My question is- if a character is transitioning out of Initiate or Apprentice Wizard- do they still retain their ability to cast spells?

I direct the quote to

Non-priests may not learn any divine blessings at all.

A similar ruling exists with apprentice wizards.

In this example- say a player finishes the career for initiate and wants to become a Zealot. He even gains the Initiate Career ability from finishing the Initiate Career. Is it possible for him to still cast spells? He loses his faith talent slot and the class does not contain the Priest Trait.

In this way- is the only way the character can improve while maintaining his spellcasting is to travel along the carreer paths? IE Initiate/Apprentice Wizards -> Disciple/Acolyte -> Priest/Wizard

Is it impossible for them to improve their statistics to 5 outside of fellowship and Willpower (for the priests)? Training into skills outside of the career skills can only be done as non-career advances?

Edit: Someone said that there are additional skills suggested as per GM discretion for different faiths in Signs of Faith so that eases up on trying to get weapon skill for a priest of Sigmar- but still limits his maximum attributes. Is there anything like this in Winds of Magic?

The winds of magic mentions Exeat Wizards, ones that leave the colleges to do other careers. I say yes they can cast spells. just be hard to sockets orders, unless get that special talent that allows you to exchange a talent while it recharges. (4 turns)

Spells are action cards.

I hope I am right on this.

I do not have the rules in front of me right now, but I would be surprised if it did not work something like this:

You transition out of it like any other career. Spells are just action cards, so you keep them. You also keep your order card, but can no longer slot it, as you have no matching talent slot. In the new career you can not use advancements to buy spells as you are no longer in wizard/priest training.

I do not have the rules in front of me right now, but I would be surprised if it did not work something like this:

You transition out of it like any other career. Spells are just action cards, so you keep them. You also keep your order card, but can no longer slot it, as you have no matching talent slot. In the new career you can not use advancements to buy spells as you are no longer in wizard/priest training.

That sounds entirely reasonable and accurate. Power and Favor can still be influenced via action cards- and would assumed to always work towards equilibrium.

I think Durak hit the nail on the head.

Correct. You do not lose anything purchased, although potentially a character might lose access to talents/etc if they cannot slot the cards.