For the Crusade Game I run, the Grand Tribunal happened in 1096 - not sure if that’s intentional on part of the designers, but that was peak first Crusade Mania. The next one will be 1129, which I have many notes for, and the PC was making plans on how to eventually influence it in his favor. The pace of the game is such that it’s still 1101 and the PC as Aubert of Damascus is still in the process of invading Egypt. On the PC’s docket is:
(1) The legal argument that the Levant Tribunal gets to raise 3 issues, as the Tribunal in my alternate timeline was constituted in the late 800’s, and that it is not technically a “new” Tribunal but defunct due to lack of Quorum, and was never legally dissolved by a previous Grand Tribunal ruling. Therefore the representatives can bring up 2 issues, and then bring up the final issue partitioning the Levant Tribunal into three regions.
(2) The Creation of many new Levant Tribunals, specifically the Tribunal of Syria (Cilicia, Duchy of Antioch, County of Edessa, Principality of Aleppo), the Tribunal of Phoenicia (From Tripoli to Tyre along the coast, and into Damascus, then everything east of the river Jordan Selkhad, Bosra) (3) The Tribunal of Jerusalem (from just south of Tyre to Ascalon, and generally everything west of the River Jordan) The argument will be that due to the lawless chaos of the region and that long travel times to a single location… and that a multi-front WAR is going on that a decentralized Tribunal network is better to coordinate defenses of the Order.
The PC is also fairly political about this. He is dealing with Archmagus Quaesitor Dreddicus (Judge Dredd) and wants to get him assigned to another Tribunal, or maybe Egypt. And the PC has a female Quaesitor who is in love with him but is too old and out of touch to realize this or acknowledge it, and is not impartial in the PC’s favor. The PC wants her as the Phoenician Tribunal’s Presiding Quaesitor. Another issue is that the PC is aware of the Unholy Consult’s influence, as they have settled into a covenant in Homs, and the PC does not want to be in the same Tribunal as them.
(3) PC will also make the argument that New Tribunals get a 3 votes at the grand tribunal as waiting 33 years for them to get a vote when they’ve been in existence for 30 years is unreasonable.
(4) Upgrading the Order of Hermes’ institutional capability of interacting with other Non-Hermetic Orders. As declaring War or even peace talks and other diplomacy on behalf of the order require 33 year turn around time is insane. Note that in this Campaign, they are dealing with:
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Order of the Amazons attacking their most ancient enemy: The Sons of Bonisagus and freeing the eternal rape of the subjugated Daughters of Trianoma. The PC convinced a senior Archmagus Quaesitor to convene an emergency Grand Tribunal, and the result was a collective yawn. The PC was not impressed.
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The PC engineering a Wizard’s council that declared War on the Order of Solomon for diabolism.
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In the adventures that last ran in May this year, the PC unfortunately awoke 3 of the ancient Roman Orders of Magi: (a) Ordo Jupiter (b) Ordo Pluto {yes, the same as Guernicus the founder’s tradition} and (c) Ordo Mars. These Roman Orders are in collective agreement that the Ordo Mercury was the weak little brother red-headed step child of the Roman Orders. As the Order of Hermes doesn’t even claim to be Roman anymore… They are permitting ONE Covenant in all of Egypt and are claiming it as their immediate territory, with plans to expand further in Africa. They are also in negotiations with The PC as The Prince of Damascus who will be the likely secular leader of Egypt.
(5) - Apprentice Rights, I used some of the material from the Sorcerer's’ Slave, where the PC made friends with Andros, who was a terminal apprentice of 30+ years. As a result, the PC wants to reform how apprentices are treated in the Order.
(6) A vote on War (Yes/No) with the Order of Amazons
(7) A vote on War (Yes/No) with the Order of Solomon.
Part of the plan was the use of the rules in Transforming Mythic Europe to write Polemics, Diatribes and Apologia to prosecute and gain favor for these issues at the Grand Tribunal of 1128. Interestingly in my consulting of Ars 5e, 4e, and 3e Canon, there seems to almost remarkably “nothing” happening that Tribunal so it is pretty much a blank slate.
On that note, given all the years I’ve played… I have never run a memorable Grand Tribunal of 1228. Well maybe I shouldn’t say “neveRRR” but it would have been hand wavy thing I did as a teenager 22+ years ago. I have run Grand Tribunals for my Pre-800’s game, which was interesting, as the PC’s were able to leverage votes to change rulings. Memorably they changed the “Join or Die” into “Join, Die, OR be enslaved!” As the PC’s wanted to making foreign magi their property to extract non-hermetic secrets from to sell access to new Hermetic Magic discoveries to the rest of the Order.
Other issues I’m canonically aware of for 1129:
(1) Border of the Normandy and Provencal upheld.
(2) Tribunal of the East became the Tribunal of the Levant (not applicable)
