[color=blue]"I think it is more beneficial to be among other Gifted magi and within a stronger aura than the Redcaps need. I will have access to better resources this way. However, I will be at Taigh-Gogar frequently. Especially this spring - I will be traversing the tribunal doing my Redcap duties. I expect I will see much more of you this spring outside of Insula Canaria, especially with the tribunal meeting only a year away."
[color=blue]"In the meantime, I do have a question for you. Mind you, this is not about apprenticeship. If two Hermetic magi conceive a child, is there anything in the Code to force the mother maga to give the father magus more access to the child than she might otherwise choose, short of ceertamen? As I'm sure you are aware, we Mercere are particular about our bloodlines."
[color=red]"For the most part, items are brought up for the first time at the meeting itself. Some magi will send out feelers to their sodales on things they're considering for Tribunal. And some people," Whitburh sneers, [color=red]"bring up the same things every time, even though they know that it's not going to succeed."
[color=red]"Not per se...although you could try to argue a 'deprive of magical power' claim. I would be surprised if Mercere didn't have its own rules to address that, however."
"Sounds like an argument we'll stay well away from. It will be interesting then to see if reinvigorating this covenant creates any new friendships. While I grew up in the tribunal, my master and I never attended to the political side of the Order. I wasn't interested until now."
"Is there anything of consequence you'd like to ask me, or like to know? I get the feeling that you're often darn busy, and I'd hate to waste this opportunity."
[color=blue]"How would the deprivation of magical power claim work for a child? If the child were Gifted and old enough to become and apprentice, and the father expressed the desire to apprentice the Gifted child, then I could definitely see an issue. But if the child were not Gifted, I don't see how that claim could work at all."
[color=red]"Something like that. It would be helpful to remember, as well, that people are never as they seem. Whether that's for the better or the worse..." Whitburh trails off, leaving the sentence unfinished.
[color=red]"Mercere are a very sympathetic house, and many magi place great stock in tradition. The children of Mercere are, de facto if not de jure destined for their parent's house. If, say, a Flambeau mother would abscond with the child she had by a Mercere, the father could argue at Tribunal that, since the child was of Mercere parentage, that the Flambeau mother was depriving the House of a portion of its power.
"Of course, how successful said claim would be depends on the personalities involved."
"My following on history is shameful, but I'll say there is a hard price paid when anyone invades anywhere. Scottish folk have been bashed too many times...I tend to think of the northern clansmen a Scottish than some southerners but that's my Master speaking.
In future I'd prefer to learn as little French as possible too. "
[color=blue]"Well, in that case, I seem to be on the right side of things. Perhaps there is even less worry than I had thought there might be. Thank you for the bit of insight."