It is unclear to what degree the assistance was intentional or voluntary.
But if the suspect fled the Quaestors a few months before Tribunal with the guilty party and word was left with their Covenant, what recourse should the Tribunal take?
Immediately March them?
Dispatch Hoplites to bring them before the Tribunal by force?
Hold the Covenant or Parens responsible for recovering them?
Something else?
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It's political.
- would a faction kneecap another one by saying no proof?
- would they vote for the accusing party to bring them for judgement in 7 years? failure only shows they have something to hide.
- would magi in good standing assert that the suspect is of ill reputation?
What in it for the the rest of the Tribunal?
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100% agree with Tugdual. All politics, and dependent on the personality of the Quaesitor.
You could have a Quaesitor who is very concerned with process. Takes a case to tribunal, does the vote, everything very formal. Maybe in a few years, the magic is hunted down......Considering magi lifespans, and medieval travel times, a few years likely sounds ridiculous to modern thinking, however, I think it might be suitable in the setting.
You could have a very aggressive Quaesitor, who gets a posse of 5 mates and they all declare a wizard war.
You could have a Quaesitor who calls a special tribunal session and is given power to chase down and kill the transgressor without the usual one month wizard war wait.
You could have a Quaesitor who hunts down the Magi. If the Quaesitor successfully kills the magi, when the Quaesitor is investigated, the Quaesitor argues the magi, in aiding enemies, breached the oath to the Order. The oath breaker lost the protections granted under the oath, and there was no need to declare a formal wizard's war.
Everyone's view of the order is specific to their game, however, I've always felt the responsibility of a covenent and/or parens to the individual magi is quite loose. While everything is politics, trying to hold a parens or covenant responsible for an individual magi's actions would be a hard vote to win. The covenant and/or parens may feel dutybound to act, however, I dont think they could be held responsible.
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I am mostly looking for the "by the book" approach or the default.
Not necessarily what would happen, but a baseline.
By the book you might take a look on how, when and what for the enemy of the Order that got aided and abetted became such an enemy.
The process for that is not clear cut, and to make such a determination for the Order requires a lot of clout and authority. A Grand Tribunal might do so - but a normal Tribunal probably not.
IIRC, there were attempts to declare demons the enemies of the Order - but these were not followed through.
Magi being marched are not declared enemies of the Order, but merely cast out of it.
A Quaesitor operating by the book really only has two options when dealing with a suspect.
Either the guilt of the suspect is considered clear enough and the danger of them running free is large enough, in which case the Quaesitor will call an immediate Wizard's March to hunt down and kill the suspect. This decision will later have to be ratified at a Tribunal meeting.
Or the case will have to be tried formally at the next Tribunal with the Tribunal deciding guilt and punishment (if any).
Until the suspect has formally been found guilty, there are no legal means of forcing them to come back to stand trial or anything.
Any mage can of course declare Wizard's War on the suspect for any reason (or no reason) at any time, as long as they follow the rules.
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I think I agree with @ErikT on the result once facts are clear. But the largest arguments and the legal wrangling would/could usually be on what's actually an enemy of the Order (and to minor extent if it was deliberate or the suspect was fooled into something, which is not necessarily grounds for leniency).
For example: The Order has refused to declare the Infernal an enemy... (however association with that goes under a different rule ofc). There are also the fae, sahirs etc. Order of Odin status can be relatively unclear if you want (some would argue yes, others no). Anything mundane or even the Holy Seat can be argued either way as well.
In other cases, any Gifted individuals or organisations with Gifted can by default be considered enemies of the Order, regardless how friendly. After all, it's "join us or die" that's the classic motto.