1231, Summer – Tribunal

We arrive at Loch Leglean covenant shortly after sunset. We are offered food and drink, and provided with places to sleep. The Tribunal itself is due to begin in a couple of days, giving us time to rest and I guess socialise.

There is a tavern which is full of magi, so we head there and find people to chat with. I find a couple of Criamon magi and we sit down and confuse each other. There is a level of concern that a group of magi from Stonehenge Tribunal will be turning up to raise a complaint about Horsingas.

The next day, I catch up with my Mystagogue, Radislav ex Criamon, and discuss the Avenue of Gruel, Water and Starlight and the Station of Differentiation of Seeming, which is the next step on my path to understanding the mysteries of my House.

That evening, I overhear Allistor talking about the use of rats for doing social experiments. I get the idea that this could be combined with a topic we had been discussing amongst the Criamon about mazes. If the rats were put into a maze, then we could use it to determine something or other.

The following morning, the Tribunal begins. It opens with a request from the southerners to be able to attend the Tribunal. This opens up a major discussion (which involves a lot of shouting) about whether they should be allowed to be attend. After a vote, they are allowed in. However, further votes are then called for to exclude them from individual sessions.

There is due to be a workshop about rats and mazes (which the southerners are excluded from). This kicks off some discussion about people having had problems with rats this year.

The southerners are Pieter ex Bonisagues, Charles ex Flambeau and Dierdre ex Tytalus. We have vague memories of having come across Dierdre before, whilst investigating the Slaugh mound.

The first case is about two covenants claiming the same vis source. It seems they both discovered it at about the same time, but there isn’t any clear evidence about who found it first. There is voting, and the covenant of Portus Vidue Vastae wins out over Fire’s Heart.

The second matter is a disagreement between two magi about where they can place their sanctum markers. One is an Ex Miscellaneous, the other is a Tremere. There is a long and tedious discussion about precedent and other legal matters, until a shout of “settle it with a drinking contest” causes everyone to laugh. Shortly thereafter, Allistor hands drinks to both of them.

The Ex Misc immediately starts drinking, much to the cheers of the majority of the crowd. The Tremere realises that most people seem to be in favour of this. So even if he manages to get a ‘proper vote’, he’s going to lose. So the Tremere accepts the drinking contest. Eventually the Tremere loses.

After the break, the senior magi announce that drinking contests won’t be allowed for serious matters.

The third matter is a conflict between Hermetic Law and local laws of Hospitality. There is a magus who visited Mhor Rath in the north. He needed to leave to get back to his research, but was forbidden from leaving since his hosts claimed that he had offended them.

Jaxom ex Verditius is claiming that this interfered with his ability to do magic, which breaks the Hermetic Code. After a question by me, it’s mentioned that he may have been spying on them, but they didn’t want to charge him with that. This fact seems to sway some of the lowland magi against him. A vote is called, and the vote ends up going against Jaxom.

This ends the first day of the Tribunal.

There is a feast that evening, during which there is a discussion about what is going on up north. There is a general feeling that someone should do something about it, but nobody is sure exactly what should be done. There is obviously magic of some kind being used, and possibly undead as well.

The southern magi mention that they are here to raise complaints about Horsingas covenant, who has been raiding south across the border. They don’t want anything to escalate, but would like the Tribunal to reign in Horsingas a bit.

The next day Maedbh gives a presentation on the strangeness that has been happening over the past seven years. Most of these seem to be Fey related, but not all. There is a lot of discussion about this, but it doesn’t seem to really go anywhere.

There is a request for Maedbh to continue investigating (with a suitable recompense to be discussed), and the day’s discussions are closed for the evening. Maedbh mentions to us afterwards that a couple of the magi seemed to be deliberately directing the discussion away from reaching a definite conclusion.