1205 Spring - The First Wave (Story)

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Heir of Laimunt Valley
115

Wolfgang smiles, thinking of his parens' tirade when he heard about the Lotharingian idea.

"I don't know the details, but it's a movement to found a new tribunal, roughly following the borders of Lotharingia, to avoid the ossified politics of the Rhine and the difficulties of Normandy.

I know little about Normandy, but I've heard that the Alps is hard even for a single magus to join, let alone a whole covenant; and I can speak of the Rhine knowledgeably, new covenants are quite rare there because they must have a sponsor from every existing covenant, which means getting Fengheld, Durenmar, and Dankmar; the three of whom couldn't agree that water is wet.

The reason I suggested Lotharingia is really just that it's a different set of challenges, that might be easier to deal with than joining one of the three we border."

116

"oh. Durenmar were suspicious of me for even staying at Dankmar. They loathe each other. That seems like it would be a near absolute bar to entering the Rhine "

117

"Actually," Augustus reacts with a smile, "having a liege covenant is not required. It is technically easy to become a covenant in Normandy. It only requires exclusive access to one or more vis sources which total at least one pawn per year per magus. From what I understand, the vis sources within this valley are more than sufficient for that. The covenant must also have a council chamber which is at least a day's journey from another covenant's council chamber. Again, not a problem for Tugurium."

"The difficulty comes from how Normandy treats vis sources, which are scarce in most of the tribunal. Any vis source within a day's return journey from the covenant, by foot and unaided by magic, would be considered seisin , or belonging to Tugurium exclusively."

"Disposition of any vis sources more distant than that would be up to the covenant to decide. A vote might give Tugurium a legacy lease on those sources," continus Augustus, "or it might give it to another covenant. And a lease must be renewed at each Tribunal meeting, so even if you receive it the first time, you would probably lose it at the following meeting. Those source would then become tropaea ."

"A tropaeum is allocated to a covenant by the Tribunal for a period of seven years. That lease is determined by vote, or sometimes as a trophy from doing well in the Hermetic Tourney."

"The trouble is that discoverers of a new vis source are required to report them to the Tribunal. The discoverer receives an interim lease until the next Tribunal. Not reporting the new vis source is a Low Crime, that of plundering according to Normandy's Peripheral Code. The fine for that is steep."

"So if you join Normandy, you will be immediately required to report all of you vis sources. You will certainly lose several of them at the next Tribunal, unless you can gain enough support to uphold a legacy lease. That is notoriously hard to achieve, unless you are willing to become the vassal of a powerful covenant."

"Furthermore, both the Rhine and the Greater Alps may immediately launch a legal challenge regarding source that they deem to be located within their territory. But that is of course also true if you join either of them -- the other two Tribunals will say that you are raiding their territory for vis."

Clusius listens intently as Augustus explains all this, and look a bit taken aback by the end of the explanation.

118

Wolfgang looks at Clusius. "I take it there are widespread sources, or you wouldn't look so concerned." He frowns, and turns to Augustus. "What about the rights of the Heirs? Do they help to protect the sources from tribunal claims? I've had a strange idea... what if we founded chapterhouses in multiple tribunals? Is there precedent for that?"

119

"I'm afraid there are provisions in the Perifereal Code in Normandy that specifically forbid the use of chapter houses to circumvent the Perthean Code - that is the name of the legal device on Normandy that rules over the disposition of vis sources. I'm not aware of how other Tribunals would deal with this - I assume the usual method would be Certamen or bringing charges of deprivation at the Tribunal and wasting everybody's time."

"If I'm not mistaken Fengheld has a chapter house in Normandy, but the Tribunal doesn't recognize it as a true covenant; instead it's a coenobium - a community. This doesn't give them any rights on vis sources."

120

Clusius looks hesitant...

Augustus does not, "As Regulus said, a chapter house would not be recognized by Normandy."

"I'm not sure that the Rhine would recognize a chapter house from a covenant located in another Tribunal, but I am pretty sure that the Greater Alps would not."

"Until now, I had not released the precise list of Loenardus' vis sources, not even to the Heirs. That was a stipulation of Leonardus' Hermetic Will. Now that the covenant has been officially formed, I will be providing a log of those vis source." He looks at Eikona pointedly, "I would advise that you not share this list with non-members, considering the delicate situation you are in. It would be very easy for magi from any of the Tribunals to try and seize some of your sources. Maybe even raid your secure sources if they think they can get away with it."

"What I can tell you, however, is that about half of them are probably within a day's return journey, for a total of about forty pawns per year. The rest are spread fairly evenly across the three tribunal's territory, up to three days away on foot."

121

"Wolfgang asked something that I overlooked." Turns to the flambeau.
"I understand that no claim stated on Leonardus will or on our Charter would be above the rules of the Tribunal. In case of divergence the Perifereal Code triumphs. So, the Rights of the Heirs on the vis sources wouldn't stop the ones further than one day from being taken from us, if we chose Normandy."

Regulus yawns a bit - he is tired - and apologizes to the group.

"But on that note: Clusius, would the Heirs have any preferences on the selection of the Tribunal? Or might they offer any help, such as sponsorship if one of them resides at the Rhine? Also, which was Leonardus last covenant? In which Tribunal?"

122

Wolfgang says quietly, "I think anything but Lotharingian will cost them vis, won't it? Unless they start and win a political border fight... either way that's 23 years and 3 tribunals away. We're in a cleft stick. How long can we hide?"

123

"Each of the three reside in a different Tribunal -- my mater just moved to Valnastium in the Alps, Wilhelm is in the Rhine and Eduardus is in Normandy."

"They haven't expressed a preference, but they did share an expectation that the more vis they get, the better. How we achieve that is up to us."

124

Regulus turns to Wolfgang again.

"If the Lotharingian movement is strong that would be a good option, but just as you said, that is 23 years in the future. Maybe we could gather the support of a few covenants to join another Tribunal, with the promise of helping to reform the Tribunal when the time comes? Of course, this is on the premise that there are actually magi trying to push for a Lotharingian Tribunal."

"I think only the Normandy is likely to result in a loss of vis sources. We could try to convince the rest of the Tribunal to grant the sources to us as legacies, if we could offer something in return, but every seven years we would have some politics to deal with" - Regulus considers for a moment the odds of Valerian interfering with this.

"Of course, Normandy has it's perks. Cases of magi harvesting from someone else's vis source are almost unheard of. We would also need to check the full list of sources that Augustus is going to disclose, if any requires skill to collect it becomes a luctatione, anyone who manages to harvest keeps the vis. We would be in advantage, since we would already know when and how to collect. And since some of the sources seem to be in inter-tribunal areas, Rhine and Alps would claim that these are not subject to Normandy rules - well, they would also want to stop us from harvesting, but that can't be avoided. This is going to happen whatever Tribunal we chose."

"I'm less sure about the Rhine, but I believe we don't need to pay any vis, and the Perthean Code is not valid there."

"Finally, the Alps. As I understand we don't pay anything either, we just need to show that we own a lot of vis. I don't recall the exact amount, but it is huge."

"The main problem would be that, as far as I know, they haven't accepted the foundation of new covenants for a few centuries. But if the last covenant of Leonardus was in the Alps... I don't know... Maybe we could claim that Tugurium was actually founded by Leonardus, if not de facto, at least in will, and that as heir to Leonardus and princeps of Tugurium, Clusius is entitled to a vote in the Alps, all else being mere formality. This is pushing it a bit... but maybe it could be done, with the help of your mater and the support of Valnastium. If we want to join the Alps, of course. I'm not sure what advantages that could bring us."

Regulus gives Clusius and Eikona a look, and them the others, waiting for comments.

125

"Leonardus was a member of Triamore, in the Rhine," clarifies Clusius. "It is my mater, his first filia, who was recently invited to become a member of Valnastium."

126

"excuse my ignorance, but how would we even find out if the tribunals would accept a new covenant? It seems we need to know that they would want us before weighing if we would join"

127

Eikona realizes that some of the debate is rather sensitive: "I am aware that it may be fair for me to leave the council chamber if you want to discuss topics that concern members only."

She looks at the senior quaesitor: "I've heard that stealing from other magi is not a crime in Normandy. Is that true?"

128

Wolfgang responds to Regulus, "Joining any tribunal would lead to sources contested, and possibly lost, to the other two. Of course, Normandy would be worse. Lotharingia is the most uncertain, but if it does form we could ensure that the boundaries of the new tribunal put our sources incontestibly within the new tribunal, so in the event of success, the vis is the most secure."

129

"Oh, I see. I hadn't thought of that in this way... you are correct, of course. Humm... In this putative Lotharingian Tribunal we would still be in the border of the Alps, so I imagine we could still face some contest from their side, but that can't be helped. Anyway, with Clusius clarification it seems to me that we have almost zero chance of joining the Alps."

Turning to Marcus:

"The Perifereal Code of each Tribunal should make clear what are the requirements to formally establish a covenant. If we meet the requirements they can't oppose us, except on political grounds. For example, even if we meet all the requirements for a Theban Tribunal, I doubt that Thebes would accept us, and Normandy and Rhine would surely contest this movement too. To join Normandy on the other side, we already meet the basic requirements, as Augustus has stated."

130

"That is a common misconception," Augustus says in answer to Eikona's question. "The Normandy Tribunal, in a ruling made in 1088, established that the mundane resources of a covenant cannot be considered to contribute to the magical power of its members. This was later interpeted as meaning that an attack on a covenant's purely mundanes resources is not a infringement on magical power, and so cannot be prosecuted as a Hermetic crime. Although it is true that there was a period during which covenants would raid each other's mundane resources, this practice has mostly fallen out of practice."

Turning to Marcus, Augustus shakes his head, "In the same way you find out anything about magi, you speak to them. Although my young House-mate is correct that the Peripheral Code of each Tribunal records the traditional requirements for forming a new covenant, in practice it requires gathering sufficient support to do so. That requires meeting with magi from that Tribunal's covenants and convincing them to support your claim that you should be part of their Tribunal."

"And even though you may meet the minimum requirements of Normandy, just showing up at the next meeting and expecting to be accepted would be a mistake. By then, news or just rumours of Tugurium's existence will have leaked within each of the Tribunals. A covenant could bring up charges of plundering against you. Since the Praeco gets to decide in what order the topics will be brought before the Tribunal, he might be convinced to have this charge should debated before your covenant is recognized, and a ruling against you would make you all guilty of a Low Crime with a steep fine. That could negatively incline the Tribunal towards Tugurium and they might vote to reject your joining on those grounds."

"Some in the Tribunal could also be hesitant to offend the Greater Alps or the Rhine."

Augustus spreads his hands before him, "I'm not saying any of this will happen. Just that you cannot just let events be decided by others. Go out and gather support, in all three Tribunals, because whatever your choice is you will need it to minimize the repercussions of your choice."

131

Wolfgang looks to Augustus. "I have some questions of serious law... Other than just making friends and hoping, is there anything else we can do to prevent charges of plundering? Why haven't there been such charges in the past? Does being registered with Magvillus help? What about our citizenship status, how much leeway for delay do we have with that? Or does the registry with Magvillus cover it?"

132

"A charge of plundering can only be brought against a member of the Normandy Tribunal, when the one making the charge can prove that a vis source has been harvested within the Tribunal border. A magus can prevent the charge by declaring the vis source when it is discovered. So technically the charge could have been brought against Leonardus, because he never declared the sources he discovered. Of course, since he was not a member of Normandy, it was much harder to do that."

"One way to avoid the charge would be to declare the sources quickly -- you could argue that you just learned about the sources and thus reported them in a timely fashion. This would deflect the blame on Leonardus."

"Registering the source with Magvillus wouldn't help much -- and I would note that for now I was only planning on registering the covenant's charter with Magvillus, not its vis sources."

"Your citizenship status might help, or not. That will depend on how each covenant of Normandy sees things."

133

Wolfgang blushes a little, turning perfectly pink. "Apologies, magus, I was unclear. I meant, does being members of a covenant registered with Magvillus prevent us from being charged with vagrancy?"

134

"Ah, vangrancy. Do you mean the concept present in the Greater Alps that a magus needs to be associated with a covenant? I'm less familiar with the Alps' Peripheral Code, but I think you would be safe there. If you were petitioning that Tribunal for membership as a covenant, then you would have to demonstrate that you have sufficient vis sources, which you do."

"No, no, you must mean not having a Tribunal. Well, not really. You could either claim, individually, membership in one of the three Tribunals, but how that would apply to you would have to be ascertained based on your situation. Clusius, for example, was until recently a guest of Triamore. So he could claim he is still a peregrinator of the Rhine, since this is a border territory. It would be harder for Perion here, since he has never lived in the Rhine, but in his case he could argue he is simply an eremite of Normandy. Each status, of course, comes with its own restrictions and limitations. So Perion would have to be careful not to harvest vis sources in Normandy to avoid being charged with plundering."

"In any case, if a charge is brought against one or more of you, you may also ask for some leeway by demonstrating that you are actively seeking affiliation of the covenant to a Tribunal, and that the border nature of your location explains the delay. That would buy you some time."