I have been looking into creating a lodge for my adept (soon-to-be mystic adept). There are currently 3 adepts in our groups focusing on various areas. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find answers to a couple of questions.

First, is a use of Ritual Spellcasting required to set up a lodge? Nowhere does it say it is needed, but SR4A p178 says:

Ok, fine. Is that just fluff text or is the Ritual skill really used? If it's used, what threshold is needed? Personally I would rule that yes it is needed with a threshold of the Force of the lodge. But that is just my opinion. I can't find anywhere that says the skill is actually used.

Second (and this is conditional on the answer above), if the skill is not used can any adept (or Awakened for that matter) be part of the activation ritual, regardless of tradition? I would assume no; but again, nowhere does it state otherwise.

The ritual has nothing to do with the skill "ritual magic". It is something every mage can do. Basic knowledge if you want to say so.^^

It is using the word ritual as simply a word, there is no connection to ritual spellcasting. Just means you dance around an alter or pray or chant or meditate or read complex therums or whatever is appropriate for your tradition. Basically it just takes time and requires your character to not be doing anything else.

Like a mechanic laying out all their tools in the way they like it.

Basically. Or a gamer setting up all their dice in just the right way. It doesn't require any actual skill (Unless you stack your dice in precarious towers), but you can't really be doing anything else while you do so.

Ok. Those answers make sense. Thanks.

How, if you would please, can your Adept become a Mystic Adept? Are you an ork adept that's planning on becoming a wendigo?

The way our campaign is being run, the first few chapters have limited character creation rules. Chapter one, for instance, has a limitation of adepts as the only Awakened quality available, with chapters 2 and 3 adding mystic adepts and magicians respectively. (There are many other limitations but those are not relative here.) Also, we have only 200 BP to spend since we are starting as low tier gangers. At the end of each chapter, we can recreate our character slightly as long as we keep the same basic concept with the new limitations. In other words, no going from an face to a combat monster. Also, the basic personality has to be the same.

My guy is going from an adept to mystic adept using the explanation that he has "awakened" even further. I don't see him switching to full magician in chapter 3 since that goes against my concept for him.

How would that even work anyways? Going for Adept or Mystic Adept to Magician would require you losing all adept abilities.

Interesting concept though. I did a 300 BP street-campaign once. My players over-reacted to me asking them to build with 300 BP with a street-gang concept and build highly specialized combat monsters. The campaign didn't last long.

When you do a street game with 300bp you need to do a couple of other things:

limit them to 8F availability
Limit skills to 1 5 or 2 4's, rest cap at 3
limit qualities to +/- 20
Limit resources to 100k

Then people will make some more balanced, interesting characters. Although the urge to min-max will be high

If you want a more balanced game. You keep the same limitations, but you let them keep 400bp.
You'll see seriously rounded characters.
Or a room full of adepts not sure

The characters aren't going from adept/mystic adept to magician. It's just that mystic adept and magician become available in future chapters.

Actually, how are Mystic Adepts made IC, anyway? I mean, do they initially Awaken, noticing their Adept skills, and then also discover they are able to cast spells? Is the whole thing instant, just BLAM and you're a mystic adept, like the magician awakenings are described in the fiction? Or is it a step by step process? If so, turning from a simple Adept to a Mystic one would make sense.