Silveroak's question made me think of this.
SPOILERS for "Lhude Sing Cuckoo" from "Thrice-Told Tales".
[spoiler]Why is Galafre's plan a problem from the point of view of Hermetic law? Yes, it's ill-conceived. Yes, it would eventually destroy the noble family in question. Yes, i's morally repugnant. But I can't really see a way in which his actions would eventually rebound on another magus of the Order of Hermes.[/spoiler]
Magi are human, and that which is morally repugnant may still be prosecuted, potentially under the allegation that such morally bankrupt methods will reflect badly on the entire order in the minds of mundanes. Damage to overall hermetic reputation in other words...
Yes, but... how would mundanes find out it was the Order that was responsible?
SPOILERS
[spoiler]Galafre's magical items, even when they give out, will not point the finger at the Order. That could very well be Galafre's defense -- "no magi have been hurt by my actions, and there is little chance that they would have been, since I left no tracks that a mundane investigator would find". This is, to my mind, a strong defense.
I'm running my players through a modified 'Lhude Sing Cuckoo', relocated to the Theban tribunal. So in my game, even that defense may not save Galafre -- he is metoikos, and so the Theban polity may well decide to boot him from the Tribunal on general principles. But I am curious about how the 'default' Hermetic justice process would deal with the case.[/spoiler]
Define find out...
if people know about the existence of the order, and magic happens, they are likely to blame to blame the order in absence of evidence that it wasn't the order. It isn't like people are always rationl, fair, and balanced ad wait for all the evidence before passing judgement.
No, people are not usually balanced and fair. But the Order is only one of a number of possible culprits. In my games, people usually blame God, the Devil, faeries, the local hedge witch, the Order, Jews, Saracens... pretty much at random. In this particular case, a faerie or an incubus seem much better candidates to get the initial dose of blame.
People are going to be prone to blame the most likely candidate based on proximity. A town near a covenant has the covenant as a possible blame. If they live near a faerie forest, they're probably blaming the faerie. As above, if there's a Saracen army nearby, probably those guys. Those who are educated or privileged probably know more possible options of blame. Those whose lives are limited to a small region only have the small region to blame.
So yes, a mysterious magical curse roaming about the farming village next to the magi's tower will probably blame the magi, even if it is actually a demon's fault. Or God's.
The point however, is that the code forbids interfering with mundanes in ways that could bring ruin on your soldales. "They can't know we did this isn't a valid defense when a) you did do it and b) they will assume it was you even if they don't know.
Plus grogs talk when they drink too much...
True; Scorched Earth Policy doesn't work as well when it's only Singed Grass Plan.
Scorched earth can work for some things, but not for avoiding interference charges. The idea that you can hide a big bloody mess with a bigger bloodier mess is unique to roleplaying and ill conceived at that- inevitably there will always be someone who will be asking "What happened over there?" and "could the pristine covenant or magus standing in the middle of the carnage be responsible?"
Additionally the rule is to avoid bringing ruin to your soldales, not to avoid people with priests and pointy things from showing up. A rise in grain prices because fewer people will deal with magi is also harm that can be brought through your actions, whether that is because you have tarnished the reputation of the order or because all the farmers are dead and there is no grain to sell.