Tribunal of the greater alps

5 has been the number of the covenants of the tribunal, and the number of the covenants shall be 5.
Formally at least.
This is the tribunal of the Greater Alps, where for centuries 5 autumn covenants have ruled, preventing magic from overwhelming the resources. Treated by mundane authorities as a march- a frontier, it was nominally Christianized by 800 AD, but continued to face pagan invaders until 1000 AD, and there may be pockets of non Christians in the remote areas of this land which is culturally remote despite its central location. The magi of the tribunal have limited themselves to gauntleting two apprentices each and it is part of the peripheral code. new covenants have not been recognized, and their resources grabbed from them by established covenants. And they have been largely ignored and disregarded.
Now there comes change. Waldensian heretics have established themselves in these land and the Church is hunting heretics. A cave to the magic realm has been reported within its boundaries. These covenants in a land of ice locked in perpetual autumn are having to face their tribunal itself moving from winter to spring. But they won't go willingly.

Established covenants or new, unrecognized ones? What sort of roleplaying challenge are you looking for here?

I don't know if you'd be up for this, but perhaps he will look for the old Flying Castle of Thomae? That's more work for you, so just a thought at this point.

I could really go with either, so if others want to get involved in this tribunal, I'd leave it up to them. If it ends up being just Julian, I think it might be more fun to have him testing himself against older magi in an Autumn or Winter covenant.