I have a story idea about a demon tricking a young Flambeau into violating the Code. Namely breaking the rule about making deals with deamons. He will do this by imporsonating an older Flambeau Hoplite hunting a diabolist renegade from OoH. Depending on the characters choices he will make à deal with à demon and/or attack à church.
My question is, how hard Will his punishment be in the Next Tribunal. Although tricked in to his actions it is still his actions. The punishment should be severe but if I could avoid à March I would be pleased.
Thoughts, ideas on what à propriate punishment would be?
Consulting my trusty copy of HoH: TL, both "Dealing with Devils" and "Mundane Interference" are high crimes and as such eligible for punishment via Wizards March! Fortunately, the character has one of the few valid defences against the former charge and the latter is only likely to come up if the Church blames the OoH for the damage.
As for punishment, however, there is some bias against younger magi here since some punishments (loss of apprentice, loss of familiar) aren't likely to be applicable and others may interfere with play (banishment). Ultimately, however, I think that a Vis fine or perhaps a few seasons creating enchanted items for Redcaps would be appropriate.
Getting tricked into making a deal with a demon is not a crime. If you honestly didn't know and it wasn't reasonable to expect you to know that isn't a marchable crime. Otherwise the entire Order would need to March itself every time a demon decides to murder a magi and sneak into a Grand Tribunal. And a competent demon won't make the deception detectable. Its kind of what demons do.
Attacking the Church is really only a crime if it comes back to bite the Order, and even then the main fear is God, not the Church people. Plus depending on the depth of the deception he may not have reasonably understood the Church should not have been attacked.
Without knowing more about the case and trickery a punishment could range from getting blasted by DEO to make sure you aren't a demon, to getting marched.
Demon A, posing as a Magus Will trick the character into making a deal with demon B. So the character is well aware that he is making a deal with a demon. What he doesn't know is that the one convincing him is a demon and not a magus. A couple of seasons work to the tribunal is a great idea and can lead to new stories, i.e. serving a real Hoplite or a Redcap. Just wanted to know if this was possible within the Code of Hermes.
Deal with demon B with full knowledge. That is a "NO!" for the OoH. He is much more likely to be marched than shown leniency. Who convinced you to make the deal is totally irrelevant.
Yeah. He might get leniency if he backed out quickly and went and reported the situation to the Qaesitores.
If he got caught, rather than seeking help himself, he's getting deaded. Even if he doesn't get marched there's a good chance of a Wizard's War from a much more powerful magus who hates diabolism.
I think attacking a church, even if the Church doesn't blame the Order, is likely to result in some kind of punishment. The Church is the one organization in Mythic Europe that has the power to wipe out the Order, and the Order knows it. So even if they don't complain it's likely the culprit will end up with some kind of fine / forced labor for the Tribunal just as an example to all young magi not to play with fire...
As for knowingly making a deal with a demon, that is worth a Wizard's March unless there are heavy mitigating circumstances, and "he made me do it !" doesn't count. Clearly Demon A in his persona as a magus was breaking the Code even suggesting that action and revealing himself as an infernalist, and the only right action was to report him immediately. Well, actually the best action would be to blast him to cinders without warning then report him, but a young magus can be excused for not daring to attack an older one.
Possibly if the young magus immediately reports himself and help the quaesitors uncover the whole sorry mess he can get some leniency. He'll still earn himself an Infamous flaw in addition to whatever other punishment the Tribunal might dole out.
Yeah, there is really no situation when its okay to knowingly deal with demons. You might be able to not get marched with heavy mitigating circumstances. For example, if its under outright duress and you immediately report it and ask for help. And even then you can expect mind reading to confirm it and a decent penalty.