Silas quietly observes the handsome Verditius for a little bit before answering.
"I certainly hope we shall do without any such pointless conflicts. It is as you say trust is vital in these initial steps. I hope I havent come off as too combative. I am willing to aid in anyway I can. Naturally I am curious about these enchantments of ours."
"What do you suggest we do until we have a perfect charter, Plasmatoris? I'm.merely pragmatic about the usefulness of common rules until we make ones that will really suit us."
"I agree we need common rules. But I will not blindly swear lifelong loyalty to out covenant sight unseen. I may only wish to be here for a decade, or quarter century."
Lares yawns and gets up.
"I assume we are done here. I will try to organize the covenfolk and in so doing somehow also deal with the oasis. When I get back, I expect to be greeted with a shining paragon of legalese that inorporates the new Code and unites every magus in this desert and the next under an aegis of trust, courtesy of my hard working sodales."
He leaves and asks Izri to inform the language groups that the first session of the governing council of the covenfolk is to take place in an hour and one representative is expected of each group.
"Just keep in mind this is the standard oath accross the Order. Most covenants, unless you want to be a peregrinatore like in the Rhine and move every few years, require a pledge of lifelong loyalty. This doesn't mean you can't decide to move on in a decade or a quarter century. The standard charter does include a way to renounce the oath in front of the other covenant council members. Frankly, given the time between our gauntlets and the founding of this covenant, I find it likely our old selves all renounced our former covenants to come here at one point."
As Lares stands to leave. "Do you think we need to organise a rescue team for Okeannetis? You saw her before she left, so you would know what she intended to do and wants best, I think."
Lares stops, grimaces in frustration, and roars.
"Rod's bollocks! Is it not enough that I run after my wife in that direction and our covenfolk in this direction and our food source in that and then gallop here to participate in enlightened work with esteemed legal experts - must I also babysit this Tytalus too proud to know her own good?"
He takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.
"Look. I don't much. She said she was going to explore the area and headed in that direction." He indicates with his hand.
"It was a while ago, but it is still possible that she is just enjoying the view."
He slumps back in his chair.
"Very well. Tell me what you think. But no more talk about that charter. Just write it and tell me when I can sign it."
Izri chokes, "None of us will have a representative that quickly, the announcement alone might provoke a civil war."
Silas leans his head on his fist as the voices around the table get louder. He looks just as bored as Lares was before.
âWhat would suggest to you that a rescue would be needed? Letâs not get ahead of ourselves here. Also, Lares I thought we agreed that we would let this meeting take the time it needs. I hope you donât plan on making it a habit to attempt to march out of every meeting. But I agree the Charter discussion has gotten dragged out. Those interested will work on drafts until we have something everyone is willing to sign. I havenât investigated the covenfolk situation, but I have a few questions regarding it â that you might be able to spread some light on or investigate at a later state.
Has anyone who nobody remembers been encountered? Such a person would presumably be a visitor who was here at the worst possible time. Such a person might have people who both can and would try to find them.
Likewise, there might be people who were away when whatever occurred happened. Are there people who many, young ones preferably, remember but canât be found? Those might have been absentee and could perhaps be recalled and offer valuable insight. Guess the people at this Oasis might count for this.
Lastly â a rather morbid though â to what extent were people affected? Do we have some cemetery site where there might be buried any number of servants who awake only to be trapped within a coffin? Perhaps a silly though but if there is anyone who others remember having passed away, it would point towards this. Alternatively, such a cemetery might still be useful, if living have forgotten perhaps the dead still remembers.â
Argentius looks around the table again and chuckles softly. He pours himself another goblet of drink.
"I'll be studying to help the casting of the Aegis. I will not, however, be part of writing a new charter. Besides being a waste of time, that task should be way down the priority list. But I'm happy to look over other possible addendums if others think they can improve upon simplicity."
The Verditius takes a drink before adding:
"Seems like it shouldn't need to be said, but we might all want to agree not to go traipsing off into this desert without at least one magus and a few covenfolk with us. Just a thought."
Tastheus huffs a little as he hurriedly returns to the dinner table. "Sodales, apologies for late return. Much has changed since our first youth. With regards to the code the mundane section now reads:"
"I will not endanger the order through my actions nor my negligent lack of action. I will interfere with mundanes when necessary to avoid the ruin of my soldales, and avoid such actions as might contribute to the ruin of my soldales. "
Plasmatoris rubs at his forehead a moment, and then reaches for a roasted vegetable to spear on his knife again. "The debates of the covenant charter are actually something I think is unimportant, compared to getting everything in order. Does anyone have a need of me in their organization of the covenfolk? I find myself rather habitually behind the race to speak with everyone." He blames his constant distractions - everything is so new, so glorious. He keeps wanting to stop and draw sketches and begin painting and he has so many dieas-
"I am no master of organization and leadership, but I do want to learn what situation I've woken up in."
[OOC: Aetherius interjected and Lares stayed in the council chamber contrary to his plan but I forgot to edit the earlier post, so letâs say this exchange happens after the council meeting]
âIs that right? I do tend to underestimate how slow people are in getting things done. Very well. Let us wait some more. Come inform me when you believe we might be ready to hold the meeting.â
Lares fiddles with his fingers, looking appropriately chastised.
âYou are right, Silas. Apologies for the outburst. It is just that the urgency of the situation somewhat contrasts with the pace of the proceedings, but this is of course a necessary feature of such a mode of decision-making. I look forward to signing a new draft in a coming meeting.â
âHmm. I havenât checked for any of these possibilities, but now that you mention them, it seems obvious that we should. Insightful, Silas. Once I meet the liaisons of the covenfolk, I will bring this up with them.â
âThey basically reversed the prohibition of mundane interference. I wonder why. Well, I donât think this has any immediate relevance for us, although it might prove important later.â
âThis depends on what problems come up in the meeting with the covenfolk. You may attend if you wish, but I can also inform you of anything that you might help with afterwards.â
Lares scratches his nose.
âWe still havenât decided what we want to do with Okeannetis. On the one hand, I tend to think that sending out a search party might be hasty at this point. On the other hand, it might be easier to find her when there is still daylight left. She probably canât survive for long in the desert â I have no idea what supplies she packed, but I didnât see any on her, so probably not much â so we should probably react before tomorrow morning, in any case. This, in turn, is a strong argument for beginning now when it is not yet dark, even if the search proves unnecessary and she is just joyriding her monopony.â
"Clearly my fellow Tytali feels she has to prove herself to the rest of us. And I must agree, our charter debates can be somewhat postponed, I think it is important for us to move together as united team rather than lone individuals."
âWell, we shouldnât insult her pride by sending a rescue party then. Let her prove herself and bring back valuable information. Besides it hasnât been a significant amount of time yet. This isnât like with Laresâ wife, we are talking about a maga. How would we even be able to find her? Most methods I can imagine would fall under scrying.â
Tastheus chuckles, then calms himself. "Admittedly, I don't even know how to scry well enough to find her in the first place."
"I think maga Okeannetis would be insulted if we all worried too much about her abilities," Plasmatoris says, steepling his fingers as he leans over his meal, forgotten for now. "She seemed... What's the correct term.. Of strong personality. Overflowing with confidence." He taps his fingers together and frowns. "Equally important, I have no idea how to actually navigate my way through the desert and rescue her should something ill have befallen her - I am an artist."
The Jerbiton turns to Aetherius and gives a rather careless smile. "I will assist you as I can in the negotiations, and hopefully my presence will not cause unwanted trouble with those susceptible to the gift."
"I take it that the majority favors postponing the rescue party. Let us discuss this again later, then, if she does not return. Is there anything else, or are we done?"
Aetherius nods and seems to accept the viewpoint expressed by several of his sodales that Okeannetis would feel insulted if they went looking for her, and does not press the matter further, trusting in their judgment.
"Do we need to investigate our vis sources further or are we good with that? I'm happy to assist tomorrow if there is something that needs to be looked into."
Silas leans back in his chair.
âWell there is of course the Wizard War but we should really have Okeannetis here for that. Consolidating the investigation proper into what occurred should also be handled once we know a little bit more⌠I suppose we might be finish for today.â
He turns to Aetherius and continues.
âMy intentions for the last remainder of today were to check the storage, noting any particularly common physical containers for the vis. Should help in identifying our Sources and common trade partners.â