Tribunal Procedures

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Mythic Europe
The Order of Hermes
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The following is knowledge of Tribunal procedures available to any character with Code of Hermes 1+.

Overview

The following is an overview of how Tribunal Meetings are run. There are variations in how individual Tribunals are run, but your average magus would have attended one or two Tribunals during their apprenticeship and would be somewhat famililar with this material.

Tribunals are the political heart of the Order of Hermes. It functions as both the legislative and judicial conferences where magi govern their order as well as try (and punish) its offenders. Regional Tribunals are held every 7 years on a fixed schedule, though extraordinary Tribunals may occasionally be called outside this schedule.

The Order of Hermes is democratic in the ancient Greek style -- all magi may attend Tribunal to have their voice. By the Code of Hermes, each magus has one vote on any issues at Tribunal. This is represented by their voting sigil, a physical device or fetish, traditionally given to the magus by his or her master after apprenticeship. It is permissible to pledge your voting sigil to another magus who may then use it to vote at Tribunal. A magus may restrict the use of his sigil, or not, when pledging it to another magus.

The Peripheral Code has defined a valid Tribunal as a gathering of at least 12 magi from at least 4 different covenants with at least one Quaesitor in attendance to oversee the proceedings. If this quorum is not met, then its decisions are not binding.

Decisions at Tribunal are binding only to magi living in the region it governs.

Meeting Years

Tribunals are scheduled in the same year for the entire order, and in the 13th century will take place in the following years: 1200, 1207, 1214, 1221, 1227, 1235, 1242, 1249, 1256, 1263, 1270, 1277, 1284, 1291, and 1298.

Of note are the 1228 Tribunal which is held a year earlier to prepare for the Grand Tribunal (see below) of 1228. Additional Tribunals will be called in 1260 and 1293 to prepare for Grand Tribunals in the following year.

Note: Magi new to the Stonehenge Tribunal will quickly realize that the Stonehenge Tribunal holds Tribunals one year later than normal. It will take some digging into the local history and politics to find out why.

Tribunal Officers

Because of the democratic and relatively decentralized nature of the Order, there are few parliamentary officers. However, each Tribunal has a minimum of three officers to run the Tribunal.

Praeco

The Praeco (pl. Praecones) is the leader of the Tribunal (both the geographic region and the meeting) and has the duty to call for meetings as well as ensure its execution. The Praeco has traditionally been the office of the eldest magus in the Tribunal due to the Order failing to find another way to fill the powerful role. The Praeco is afforded three powers and one restrictions at Tribunal:

• The power to set the agenda of the Tribunal
• The power to Silence any magus at Tribunal for any length of time (the magus may not speak, but may vote)
• The power to Remove or Expel any magus from Tribunal, except the Presiding Quaesitor. A magus who is Removed must leave the discussion area, but may be called back by the Praeco at any time; a magus who is Expelled must leave the Tribunal but is recalled at the end for Ratification (see below). An Expelled magus may not be recalled by the Praeco. A Removed or Expelled magus may leave their sigil(s) with another magus for voting.
• The Praeco may not vote on any issue

Many Praecones do not participate in Tribunal deliberations. Due to their age, they may be beyond the petty conflicts of younger magi and wish to present themselves with the dignity and decorum of a senior magus. Of course, they could be Twilight-addled, near-senile, or simply not aware of their surroundings.

Vote of Procedure

One check on the Praeco's power is the right for any magus to call for a Vote of Procedure. This is used to overrule one use of the Praeco's powers. This may be called by any magus, though a magus who has been Silenced may not make such a call. A majority of two-thirds is required to overrule the Praeco.

Presiding Quaesitor

The Presiding Quaesitor is there to ensure that the Tribunal is quorate and that none of its proposals put up for voting are in violation of the Code of Hermes. The Presiding Quaesitor is attended by two junior Quaesitors who are consulted when a question of law is put to them. All other Quaesitors remain on the sidelines, available for individual magi to privately ask questions of law.

The Presiding Quaesitor has the power of veto at Tribunal. He or she may veto any particular decision or vote, or may veto an entire Tribunal as violating Hermetic Law. In extreme situations where attendees will not listen, the Presiding Quaesitor may leave, depriving the Tribunal of quorum and rending any decisions without the force of law.

To staff the office of Presiding Quaesitor, at the end of a Tribunal the local Quaesitores hold a vote for who will be the Presiding Quaesitor for the next Tribunal. As this position comes with a seat in the Outer Council at Durenmar, it is seen as an avenue of advancement for ambitious Quaesitores.

Note: This custom is not followed in the Stonehenge Tribunal.

The Presiding Quaesitor also is the "chief law enforcement officer" for the Tribunal. Any investigations requiring a Quaesitor will come through the Presiding Quaesitor, who will often staff out the investigation to a more junior Quaesitor. Some lazy Presiding Quaesitores will staff everything out to junior Quaesitores.

Chief Scribe

The Chief Scribe is often staffed by the Senior Redcap in the Tribunal. It is the Chief Scribe's job to record the proceedings, punishments, and laws that were decided. After Tribunal, the Chief Scribe ensures that a copy is sent to Magvillus (Domus Magna of House Guernicus, and headquarters of the Quaesitores), and copies are sent locally to relevant parties. Depending on the Tribunal, this may only be to the Presiding Quaesitor. Copies of Tribunal procedings may be requested from the Chief Redcap, or Magvillus, with a nominal scribing fee.

Pre-Tribunal Period

The Praeco must inform the Redcaps of the date of the Tribunal so that the Redcaps can inform all covenants and eremite (solitary) magi of its date and location. This is typically done a year beforehand, but three months is the absolute minimum time to allow for travel to the Tribunal location. This is to ensure that the Tribunal will be quorate. The location is traditionally the covenant of the Praeco, but this is not a requirement.

Magi begin arriving the week or so prior to Tribunal. Conventions vary in the accomodations afforded to attendees -- they may be given rooms, or simply a clear space to set up tents. They may or may not be given casting tokens for the Aegis, though this is uncommon as the Aegis helps keep magical tomfoolery to a minimum within the Tribunal grounds. It is common for an informal fair to develop as magi hobnob, make contacts, and sell magical goods and services. For many magi this is the social event of year. Jerbiton magi may throw a party; Flambeau may run their contests (always popular to watch); Verditius may have a smaller version of their contest to display their enchanting prowess.

Tribunal Procedures

At dusk on the appointed day, the Praeco calls the magi to the chamber where they will be meeting. This meeting ground is considered sacred ground and a sanctuary for the deliberation of the magi. (Truthfully, the entire covenant or Tribunal grounds are consider neutral, but the meeting chamber is especially so.) Until the Tribunal is closed, all magi are protected from attack, even those who have been convicted (see Ratification below). Magi who break this peace tend to be heavily censured.

When all the magi have gathered, it is traditional for the Praeco to lead the magi in a recitation of the Oath along with any opening remarks. The Oath serves to remind the magus of their duties as magi, the solemnity of the occasion, and a renewal of their promises to the Order and their sodales.

There is a formal rollcall done after the Oath. This services two purposes: One, to allow the Presiding Quaesitor to determine that there is quorum; Two to allow all magi to know how many votes are currently at Tribunal. Magi present themselves by name and announce how many sigils they have. For more formally run Tribunals, this may involve the recitation of a magus' full latin name, titles, and the name and titles of each sigil. In less formal Tribunals, this may simply be their common name and a number.

The final fixed event is the announcing of issues where magi bring forth any issues, accusations of crimes, questions of law, or presentation of apprentices for elevation to magushood. How this is done varies by Tribunal. Some are round-robin; some are done by calling on each covenant; some are just shouting matches with the Chief Scribe furiously scribbling down anything that he can hear. Once all issues are down, the Praeco has the opportunity to decide the order in which all the issues will be presented. Thus, the Praeco can manipulate events to his or her own purpose, favouring some issues and not others.

Tribunals traditionally run three days, but this is not a strict requirement. It will last as long as the Praeco opens the meetings daily until all the issues are resolved. Some issues may be postponed to a future Tribunal if the Praeco so chooses -- this is a common way for Praecones to avoid dealing with certain issues.

Voting

Voting takes place when the Praeco has decided that enough debate has taken place on an issue. Magi are called forth to declare their votes on the issue, either individually or by covenant. Magi with multiple sigils need to declare how their other sigils will be used. It is not unheard of for a magus to cast some votes for an issue, and others against it depending on how the magi whose sigils he holds want to vote.

There are two important abstainers. Traditionally, neither a Quaesitor nor a Redcap will cast a vote. Quaesitores choose to not vote to preserve the image of impartiality, while Redcaps do not vote out of deference to their Gifted sodales. The latter was a request by Mercere himself after he lost his Gift. Gifted Mercere, however, may exercise their vote normally. A Quaesitor may pledge his sigil to a trusted magus normally; Redcaps do not typically do this.

Note: The Stonehenge Tribunal has a variant on Redcap voting.

It is a sign of political turmoil when Quaesitores and Redcaps exercise their vote -- after all, by Hermetic law each member has one vote. The last time this happened was during the Schism War when House Guernicus and House Mercere sought to stabilize the Order and used their numbers to bring their sodales in line. In particular, House Mercere is one of the more populated Houses due to the number of Redcaps needed to provide Hermetic correspondence. If roused, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Apprentice Presentation

At some point, the Praeco will allow magi to present their apprentices to the Tribunal. The Presiding Quaesitor will ask the parens if the apprentice has passed their Gauntlet, after which the apprentice will be led into an oral recitation of the Oath. Apprentices would be wise to practice extensively as an error will be deemed as an incomplete education and he returned to the parens. For most Houses, an apprentice flubbing the Oath is an embarrassment; for House Tytalus, this is a known tactic for a parens to challenge their apprentice into doing their own research; for House Ex Miscellanea, this is rather common due to lower levels of latin fluency and allowances are made, especially if the wizard in question was ordered to join the Order or face death.

Once the Oath is recited, the Presiding Quaesitor will ask the parens for the apprentice's new name. The parens will give the apprentice his or her Hermetic name as well as a voting sigil. Once this happens, the apprentice-master ties are cut and the new magus may vote at Tribunal. If this is done early enough in the agenda, it may change the voting politics. It is at this time that a newly raised Tremere will formally return his sigil to his parens, as the tradition of the House is for a magus to win his sigil back through Certamen.

Because Tribunals are held only every 7 years, there are smaller gatherings for magi to present their apprentices for elevation to magushood. At a minimum, a Quaesitor and other two witnesses are required, with one witness being from the master's House.

New Proposals

Magi may bring forth proposals for debate at Tribunal. This may be any issue the magus desires. A sample of issues include (but are hardly limited to):

• Introducing new laws to regulate the behaviour of magi, or the founding of covenants
• Debate on how to react to local mundane events, or announcements of the Church
• Having someone (or something) declared as a friend, ally, or enemy of the Order
• Propose a new treaty with another power, or among Tribunal covenants

Criminal Procedures at Tribunal

Main Article: Criminal Procedures at Tribunal

Much of the Tribunal involves the politics of prosecuting magi for alleged vioations of the Code. It is possible to avoid punishment with enough votes, though one must consider the reaction of the Presiding Quaesitor if justice is denied. Vote swapping, vote buying, and a certain amount of intimidation is involved in coralling these votes before and during Tribunal procedings. However, using Certamen to influence votes is banned by Grand Tribunal ruling.

Ratification

After all issues have been resolved, or when the Praeco calls for the close of the Tribunal, the Presiding Quaesitor will poll all the magi to ratify the decisions of the Tribunal. He may also give a speech about the legality of any decisions made. Any magus who has been Silenced may speak, and any magus who has been Removed or Expelled is allowed to return. The Praeco cannot use any of his powers during Ratification. A three-quarters majority is required for a Tribunal to be Ratified. Until this is done, none of the Tribunals decisions are binding. (This is why even wizards who have been Marched are spared until Ratification.) In the 13th century, this ratification is routine. Non-ratification is a sign that the Tribunal is on the verge of lawlessness. This has not been the case since the Schism War. In the event that the Tribunal is not ratified, then the Chief Scribe destroys the records of the proceedings and a new Tribunal is convened with the next-eldest magus as Praeco. Such a vote will politically destroy a Praeco.

The Grand Tribunal

The Grand Tribunal is a meeting of magi to discuss issues before the entire Order. Originally there was only one Tribunal, but as the Order spread they divided Europe into regions to allow local issues to be addressed and renamed the order-wide meeting to the Grand Tribunal.

There are some key differences at the Grand Tribunal:

• The Grand Tribunal meets every 33 years, not every 7
• The host covenant is Durenmar, Domus Magna of House Bonisagus as well as the location of the Founding of the Order
• The Primus of House Bonisagus acts as Praeco
• The Primus of House Guernicus acts of Presiding Quaeistor
• The Primus of House Mercere acts as Chief Scribe
• Each Tribunal may only send three issues to Grand Tribunal, and each magus may only raise one issue. Thus, three magi to be the Tribunal's representatives. These representatives will often visit covenants in their Tribunal to solicit sigils for vote.
• The Primi of each House may attend and vote in their own capacity if not otherwise attending as an officer, or one of their Tribunal's representatives.
• Other magi may attend but only the Tribunal representatives, and the Primi, may speak.

Decisions at Grand Tribunal are binding to the entire Order and may not be overridden by regional Tribunals. Grand Tribunal decisions may only be overturned by another Grand Tribunal ruling. (To memory, this has never occurred.) Grand Tribunals also act as appellate courts for regional Tribunals when decisions are in question.

Meeting Years

In the 13th century, the Grand Tribunal will meet in 1228, 1261, and 1294.