Vardian Log #10: Tribunal

Season: Summer, 1200



The Players:



Arliandus of House Quaesitor		Magvillus

Astuth of House Verditius		Verdi

Demorar of House Quaesitor		Vardian's Tomb		(Billy)

Elegans of House Mercere		Harco			(Doug)

Flamma of House Flambeau		Vardian's Tomb		(Eric)

Magister of House Jerbiton		Literatus

Mercatora of House Tytalus		Venales

Narisian of House Ex. Misc.		Carmania

Taron of House Bonisagus		Vardian's Tomb

Terra Natus of House Erimor		Vardian's Tomb

Tiro of House Jerbiton			Vardian's Tomb		(Chris)

Tolas of House Tremere			Potestas		(Chris)



**

** From The Roman Tribunal by Volumen Volubilis of House Bonisagus



When considering the Covenants of the Roman Tribunal, one is at once drawn

to the three Domus Magni which exist within it's boundaries.  Only the

Rhine Tribunal has as many powerful Covenants.  Further, the Domus Magni

of the Roman Tribunal all have great prestige, since they include the

central Covenants of Mercere, Quaesitor and Verditius.



There is little doubt that Quaesitor is the most respected of those

three Houses.  The center of their House is Magvillus, one of the most

secretive Covenants in the entire Order.  Hidden in the mountains in the

Northern part of Italy, Magvillus furthers it's seclusion by allowing none

but Quaesitors inside the Covenant proper.  A few outlying buildings near

the Covenant, little more that glorified grog's huts, are used to hear the

cases of those who come to Magvillus.  According to a most honored

Quaesitor named Demorar, nearly a full month out of every year is spent by

the Quaesitors listening to the disagreements of his home Covenant,

Vardian's Tomb, alone.



Harco is the next most prestigious Domus Magnus within the Roman

Tribunal, for it is the home of the message carriers of our Order,

without whom we would crumble.  It is a sharp contrast to Magvillus,

for where the House of Guernicus is solemn and austere, that of

Mercere is happy and jovial.  Although Harco is near no city in Rome,

it is one of the most active traders with the Mundane world, obeying

the Treaty of the Roman Tribunal only by the letter of the law

whenever possible.  However, Harco's influence upon the Tribunal is by

far a good one, for, without a doubt, the Roman Tribunal experiences

the best communications of any Tribunal within the Order.



The final Domus Magnus within the Roman Tribunal is Verdi, home of the

magic item makers of the Order.  It is located a day and a half to the

South East of the City of Rome, nestled in the foothills of the mountains

there.  For them, this position is ideal, for it is close enough to Rome

to buy supplies from, and to sell magic items to (through middlemen, of

course), but it is far enough away that that city is not disturbed by

the explosions that occasionally run through the Covenant, when one

magus accidentally causes an unfortunate chain reaction.



Literatus, located within the walls of the city of Ancona, is almost

as respected within in the Order as the aforementioned Domus Magni.

Within the Mundane world, it has much wider reknown.  Unlike most of

the other Covenants within the Roman Tribunal, it is a place of

cooperation and learning.  Their reknown as a place of teaching is

second to no other institution in all of Italy, with the possible

exception of the Church itself.



Although the rest of the Covenants of the Roman Tribunal are not as

famous as the four already discussed, they are by no means less

powerful within the Roman Tribunal.  Vardian's Sepulchrum, for

example, is located under the city of Rome itself, and it boasts the

largest membership of any Covenant within the Tribunal.  This may be

traced back to a decision made by the members in 1197 to freely accept

any magi who ask admission.  Apparently, this decision was made to

stop internal squabbles which had barred the Covenant from accepting

new members for many decades.  Fortunately, the Covenant is still

strongly divided, and they are not able to use the power that their

combined votes could bring effectively.



Potestas is another force to be reckoned with within the tribunal, no

doubt in part due to the fact that the majority of the Covenant is of

House Tremere.  Located on the East Coast of Italy, far from any towns

or villages, Potestas is able to focus it's attention on the internal

matters of the Tribunal very effectively.  Rumor has it that several

Magi throughout the Tribunal are members of this Covenant as well, and

routinely report back to it.  It is Potestas' tradition to send their

weakest magus to Tribunals, but still, they are often able to sway

important decisions.



In past days, Venales was one of the strongest Covenants of the Roman

Tribunal, but today, it seems a mere shadow of it's former self.  It

had been one of the primary competitors in the trade of magic items

with the Mundanes, until the Treaty of the Roman Tribunal destroyed

it's power.  Now, the magi of Venales are rarely seen, and they have

withdrawn almost entirely to their mountainous Covenant.



The Covenant of Carmania may be found in the wilds of Sicily.  It is

composed entirely of Ex Miscellanea magi, and has little to say in

either the politics or the mercentile battles of the Tribunal.  For

the most part, their role seems to be to interject poor suggestions

at Tribunals, and slow those meetings down.



The final Covenant in the Roman Tribunal is Sansaron, which is located

upon the ruins of one of the old sites of Carthage.  When last heard

from, it seemed that the Winter Covenant was ready to slip into

Twilight in it's entirity.  They have not been heard from in several

years, and one can not help but wonder if they have abandonded this

world utterly.



**

** From Decisions of Tweetus of House Quaesitor by Tweetus of House Quaesitor



Making a decision at a Tribunal is not the determinant of its

legitimacy.  If a council of three magi declares Wizards' March

against another magus and then slays said magus, this action will

surely be noticed by other magi in the area.  The other magi will

investigate the cause for the March, and if the cause was valid, the

magi who called it will receive no punishment.  Should the reasons be

found to be flawed, however, those magi might be the target of another

Wizards' March (probably called by a larger number of magi).

Likewise, a faulty decision made by a hundred magi is still a faulty

decision, and if it can be proven faulty, the decision will be

reversed.



**

** From the Notes of Vincere, Personal Scribe to Arliandus, leader

** of House Quaesitor



The Tribunal of Rome was opened in this year of Aries, 1339, one week

late, due to the Carthagian Covenant of Sansaron failing to arrive.

More than ample time has been given for them to arrive, and, despite

their absence, the majority of those present requested that the

Tribunal be begun.



The first order of business was brought up by Demorar of House

Quaesitor.  He wished to impose a maximum time, of the sun past the

next sun, for a participant in a Certamen to choose the conditions of

that contest.  This was brought up in response to an unfortunate

incident at Vardian's Tomb, in the previous year, in which a magus had

been killed because his indecision in choosing conditions was taken as

a refusal to accept Certamen.  However, the majority of those present

at the Tribunal seemed to think that this problem was one that only

existed at Vardian's Tomb, and thus the vote failed the first time, by

one vote.  However, at a later time, another vote was taken on the

same measure, and it was this time passed, again by one vote.



Encouraged by the talk of Certamen, Tolas of Tremere advanced a

proposition that would allow for the 'right to rechallenge in Certamen

if the time limit of an earlier condition had expired.'  The

proposition was defeated soudly, even after a restriction was added

saying that even a rechallenge could not be made, except by the rules

set down in the Peripheral Code, until at least a season had passed.

Finally, the proposition was accepted when Magister of Literatus added

the stipulation that such rechallenges could only occur between magi

of the same Covenant.  The final vote was twenty eight to ten, with

only Demorar from Vardian's Tomb, and Narisian from Carmania casting

sigils on the nay side of the vote.



During this discussion of Certamen, Narisian of Ex Miscellanea also made

two propositions that Certamen be utterly eradicated from our Tribunal,

but, as with all such proposal from Carmania, they were rejectd.



Finally, important matters began to be brought up, when Magister of

Literatus brought forth his suggestion.  He asked that every magi

spend one year out of seven at Literatus.  He promised that they would

have to teach for only two of their seasons there, and that they would

be able to use the libraries of Literatus for the other half of the

year.  Magister pointed out that having magi from all Covenants at

Literatus would create a sense of community within the Roman Tribunal.

Perhaps, he speculated, it could undo some of the damage done by

centuries of mercantile wars.  Fourty five sigils were cast in favor

of this plan, with only the four sigils of Carmania being cast against

it.



At this point, Tolas brought forth one of the two most surprising

proposals of the entire Tribunal.  He lamented the fact that many of

Covenants of Rome had surpluses of Vis that they collected easily,

while others had to buy their vis from far away lands, since the magic

of their own Covenants was sorely depleted.  He proposed that all

Covenants with large supplies of internal vis, namely Vardian's Tomb,

Sansaron, Venales and Carmania be forced to sell one third of their

Vis to others within the Tribunal.  Furthermore, he stated that the

price for the Vis would be a standard set once a year at Literatus, by

the magi gathered there upon the longest night of the year.  Finally,

he added that the Mercere of Harco would be in charge of the

distribution of the Vis.  Miraculously, the vote easily passed, with

only the magi of Carmania and Venales voting no.



Having decided the important matters of the Tribunal, lesser issues

were once again brought forward.  At this time, Demorar of House

Quaesitor, putting forward yet another issue, suggested that Certamens

within our Tribunal be 'limited' unless both magi agreed otherwise.

That is, no vis can be used, and no spells will be cast at the end of

the Contest.  Following in the spirit of the newfound unity of our

Tribunal, only those of Potestas voted against this proposal, and thus

it was passed.



Taron of Bonisagus, member of Vardian's Tomb, at this time stepped

forward, and asked that the Tribunal officially make him the leader of

his Covenant.  He cited the fact that his Covenant was deeply

factionalized, and that only by having a single strong leader could

the Covenant better inter-relate with the Tribunal as a whole.  The

Tribunal seemed impressed by his arguments, and voted to make him the

head of Vardian's Tomb, hoping, perhaps, that this would cause the

'Bickering Fools,' as that Covenant is known, to become a more stable

part of Hermetic society.  It is interesting to note that Demorar of

House Quaesitor, who held the sigil of Certus, then head of Vardian's

Tomb, cast it in favor of Taron.



The final matter brought before the Tribunal was another surprising

proposal.  Terra Natus of House Ex Miscellaneous had come to speak for

his apprentice, Erimor.  Erimor wished to create a house for the

Elementalists of the Order, and proposed that it be named House

Erimor.  The Tribunal voted in favor of the proposal, 47-5, no doubt

realizing that such a decision would never stand up at the next Grand

Tribunal.  Two attempts to change the name from Erimor to Elementus

were attempted by Tiro of Jerbiton, but they both failed to gain a

majority, although one vote was twenty-six to twenty-six.  Tiro had

feared that naming a new House after a modern magus would anger the

Flambeaus of the world, and was trying to head off this potential

problem.



Finally, several apprentices were newly brought into the Order of

Hermes, and the Tribunal was at last brought to a close.