[color=red]And I hasten to say we can't but appreciate the material witness with regard to our stolen tome. But I concur you are short on a detail or two and my visceral reaction is to wonder what conspiracies are afoot and from what quarters they come from. Please feel free to school us on more of what you can. How would you know of the agendas at the Rhine Tribunal? Or perhaps you are talking of Novgorod's own gathering? You have us at much too much of a disadvantage.
[color=green]Justus Felix
[color=red]Our covenant is located in the Rihne tribunal but it could have been just as easy a Novgorod covenant. I choose to apply for the covenant in the Rihne tribunal as the Rihne tribunal is the safest one for a new spring covenant.
The Novgorod tribunal is significantly harder for a new spring covenant as they easily fall under the sway of an older more powerful covenant. If anyone has been to the Normandy tribunal you must have heard of the feudal system that affect covenants as well, some covenants are forced into bonds of service by an older covenant. It is the same thing in Novgorod only much more severe.
As you know Novgorod is still rather unpopulated by magi, there are many unexplored and yet quite powerful auras left so magi can easily find a good site for funding a covenant. That fact causes powerful covenants to force weaker ones to follow their will, just like the serfs who toils in the dirt outside their walls. They force the weaker magi to gather vis for them and bend to their will, otherwise there are repercussions.
Before you ask I can answer the question, Why can’t the quesiatoris do something about it? There are a few facts that hinders the Novgorod tribunal in this way. First of all the tribunal is large and there are not enough quesiatoris to monitor the entire area. Second of all, a large majority of the quesiatoris are more loyal to the covenants who they live with then to the Order. And last there are a few powerful magi who can be independent of those young hopolites and quesiatoris who try to make their own personal crusade against the lawless manners of the Novgorod tribunal.
As far as my knowledge goes there are no enemies to this covenant otherwise than the one who stole our tome.
[color=green]Constantia
[color=red]I have knowledge of a covenant that can force you into the Novgorod tribunal. And if that happens then either you will need my protection or the necessary knowledge to stop this from happening.
Heinrich replies - [color=red]All to interesting and sobering. Now that we have some perspective I see our situation in a different light. The Rhine Tribunal seems much more congenial compared to the Hinterland-like conditions of Novgorod - at least for spring tribunals like us. I ask mein sodales, then, would this assistance be worth the temporary depression of our vis stores?
Constantia, would we have redress and be able to certify with our tribunals that such an attempt is being made? That is, would be able to go "public" with this information and ensure that such attempts won't be made in the future. I assume - just like this prisoner you have brought to us - that we will find out which covenant and magi involved are our aggressors. I think tribunal politicos - beyond quaesitors - are always interested in machinations and power plays. We might find indirect supporters - and I know, potential detractors - by airing our complaint.
Constantia
[color=red]Once this item that I know exists becomes public, you won’t have a choice. You will be part of the Novgorod tribunal, so I suggest that you handle this matter in a Tytalian way. I know that that might include some trapeling on the fringes of the code but remember two things, that spring outside is a prize for any covenant and that the law in Novgorod is weak. Ill leave you to discuss matters between yourself, if you wish. Constantia rises to leave. Perhaps you should talk to that hothead that is your soldae. I have still my honour to defend, will it be a wizards war or just a certamen.
Constantia rises and leaves the chamber unless there are more questions.
Justus Felix
[color=red]I don’t know what we should do my soldaes. We need Mariella here as our discussion will affect her to. But this I must say, we must get her to accept the certamen, we as a covenant can’t afford a wizards war. Justus makes a pause.
[color=red]As I see it we have two options, either we pay Constantia to find out who wishes us ill and do what ever necessary to stop it from happening. That is high risk but we stay clear of being in Constantia’s hold. I know she demands a quarter now but how will it be in the future? Accepting her protection is safe for the moment and we can keep our independence even if we become a part of the Novgorod tribunal. From that moment on, in that case, we have to focus our every resource on becoming strong enough to defend our own covenant and that may take years. Now my soldaes how far are be prepared to go in order to keep our independence?
[color=red]I find her ideas interesting, but I utterly fail to see how such a thing could be happening, especially as this would lessen the breadth of the rhine tribunal. I doubt the covenants here would approve of this.
We have her word on this, and her word only. Who's to say she isn't behind all this? And a quarter of our vis is awfully high, even by normandy's rules.
She bullied us, treated us as inferior... I don't like this. Moreso, you haven't seen her covenant her sodales. I have. They're clearly afraid of her, and that means I don't wanna be in her hold, as she'd be clearly willing to try to eat us up.
We should make some contacts in the rhine covenants, see if anyone has heard of something like this, maybe?
With Constantia gone Mariella returns to the meeting when summoned by a servant
[color=red]Before I submit to a protection racket run by that Witch I will leave the covenant. If you do accept her 'protection' send only 5/6 of the vis she demands and tell her the remainder is my share.
I will of course fight her in Certeman I fear no one. If she pushes it further and it come to Wizards war then one of us will die.
I am flambeau , Ad Mortem Incurramus . I will not dsihonor my house as she does.
If we must descend to the slime of politics in which she seems to dwell then let us pay Fengheld or Durenmar a quarter of our vis for their protection.
She does not seem to have reigned in her temper , at all
[color=red]It is important to note what Ardath recalls about her perspective of the Constantia's covenant. I myself can't recall anything that stood out but I was not receptive enough. I still wonder what gets lost in translation. I wonder - with little experience - if the Novgorodians are - by culture - especially brusque in their mannerisms.
Nonetheless, I would be forked tongued if I said anything different than we would be damned if this covenant went over to Novgorod. But who is to say that there aren't plots within plots. We simply need more information. Can we dispatch runners and ourselves to get an understanding of current border and tribunal politics - I volunteer, seek word and detailed news from Redcaps? Mayhaps we could pay traders and their folk to get news from the Novgorod area.
We could perhaps offer her half of the vis and promise the remainder if her honor is true - despite her caustic qualities - and the threat is indeed great. Perhaps such an agreement or this very situation itself should be monitored by Guernicus. We had that last quaesitor through here. Are any of us acquainted well enough with current politics in the tribunals to tell us more?
Argh!!! This frustration is unbearable. This border politicking is positively nonurbane. [mumbling and trailing off] Well, that's not necessarily true either...
[color=red]I think our answer should be a polite but firm no. We should tell her we are perfectly willing to cultivate her friendship, perhaps in exchange for current or future magical favors, but paying vis for her “protection†sets a bad precedent indeed. Showing we are so weak that we need to pay a more powerful magus only invites more predators to circle. We also have no recourse if she chooses not to keep her promise of protection. I can only see condoning it if it were the only conceivable way to prevent deaths, and it has not yet come to that.
Novgorod has its problems and its benefits. The decreased rule of law could benefit us as well, in time. However, losing the stability and strength of the Rhine could be problematic indeed. Let us cultivate allies on both sides of the border, especially over here. Tribunals are prideful, and losing a covenant to a rival could be seen as weakness, so we might be able to find allies in the Black Forest and elsewhere.
[color=red]Mariella, you should do as you wish. Better certamen than war. I wonder… could you attach an additional stipulation to the certamen that if you win she must give us more information?
[color=red]I agree with Krispin to quote one of the English kings That if once you have paid him the Danegeld,
You never get rid of the Dane.
If we pay her off we will always be paying people off
OOC
Ok I am quoting a 19th century English Poet talking about the English kings
[color=red]We must make a decision. I think that we should take whatever information Constantia has and act upon that. We may not need to act in a cloak and dagger way but I would be relived to know who wish us to join the Novgorod tribunal or in other words, who wishes to bully us more than Constantia? I say that we offer her ten pawns for the information and if she fools us we deal with that later.
[color=red]I will not pay anything to someone who comes and threatens us . I say we tell her to depart and bother someone else
[color=red]What does my other soldaes think? If we reject Constantia I suggest that we travel to Durenmar with haste and look in their archives. They could have some clue. We need to decide an action here. Justus rests his back against the throne like chair of his slowly scratching his chin.
[color=red]Folks, I'm not 100% sure Constantia even realizes that her protection offer comes across as extortion, but whether it is or not 25% of our vis for a long term protection plan is simply unaffordable. But recall that she offers a one-time lump sum for knowledge of the intrigue. Is it to our long-term benefit to consider at least this and to counteroffer with something - a favorable trade deal, preferred neighboring covenant status. Perhaps something else. We don't necessarily have to choose one extreme or the other.
I am interested in what we can glean from Durenmar as soon as possible.
[color=red]She would have to be a fool not to. Her strong suits are bullying, cruelty, and manipulation – we would do well to turn her out on her ear if her information was not of use to us and she were not powerful compared to ourselves. Complying with her demands sets a bad precedent indeed.
[color=red]If she would accept some exchange services that placed us as equals, this would be acceptable to me. An enchanted item, say, or a task that would be out of her way, or one-time political support, or a trade deal, these would be fine. But she has never sought to deal with us as equals, only to intimidate us with her power. I cannot see that changing now.
Giving her the vis would be giving in to the worse kind of bullying and giving up all our power in our own home. I stand with Mariella on this matter. We should be polite to her as befits her station, but our answer should still be no.
[color=red]Her reputation is not that of a fool. So I am sure she knows exactly what sort of despicable scheme she is plying
[color=red]No, it is. Now, who goes to Durenmar? And I'd like to see this prisoner questioned as soon as possible, the thief apprehended and our Parma summa returned. The good lord knows we need it even more now.
Yannick speaks up for the first time during this meeting:
[color=red]That woman obviously takes all of us for complete idiots. I somehow have the feeling that she had her hands in the theft of the book on parma. I bet the mind of the fellow she brought here has been changed using magic.
A quaesitor dropping inquieries about a book on parma magica? Ridicoulus!
Forcing us into another tribunal? Not as long as this continent doesn't change its shape all over.
Still, we may want to see what information we can buy for a lump sum. I still have some herbam vis that none of you wanted to use. And there's more of it. Proper payement for bullies I say. 
(the tainted vis, if you should have forgotten...)[color=red]
I doubt Mariella will beg for pardon. So we need to prepare for war anyway. The werewolves could come in handy here, but we need something to offer them.
I'll be going to Durenmar, if need be. I'll be the fastest of us, flying. What exactly should I look and ask for?
Justus speaks once again. [color=red]Now regarding Constantias information. I could try to talk to her and get us a deal that doesn’t include vis. I know we all do not like bullies but we need not to make additional enemies. There might be worse bullies in Novgorod. Yannick though you may think that the changing of tribunals is a laughing matter, it is not. We live near a border that is not that defines, after all borders are lines on a map an nothing else. I pledged for membership in the Rihne tribunal for our own safety but there might be strong argument that we should belong to the Novgorod tribunal, what I don’t know but there is a risk.
I have studied a while at Durenmar so I have some knowledge of the library so I think that I should go. I suggest that I travel to Duremar after try to negotiate a deal from Constantia. It might take some time to go through the library. If it takes the entire summer season those who remain here must make preparations for both strife and as Constantia put it problem solving in a Tytalian way. I hope I be back to the start of summer.
[color=blue]OOC: Let’s use Justus social skills and Com of +5 and Duremar lore 2 with specialty library.
[color=red]You're probably right. But if Mariella wishes to fight that wizards war, we cannot make any deals whatsoever. That would be backstabbing a member of our covenant.
[color=red]I intend to fight the Certeman, to turn down her challange would be rude. It is possible that at some later date we may engage in Wizards war however I consider it innapropriate to fight a Wizards war over such minor contacts . Her innapropriate behaviour while letting the house down does not warrent killing her.