The Hibernian Tribunal has appropriated several Irish words to describe some of the particulars of the tribunal:

Brehon Laws: The collected rulings of native Irish judges over the ages. They are civil laws more than criminal laws, and define political status, social relationships, inheritances, property rights, and compensation prices for Offenses.

Cathach (plural cathaigh): The trophy that every covenant needs for legal recognition at Tribunal meetings. Larger families also keep cathaigh.

Coill Trí: The loose collection of native hedge wizards in Connacht.

Eraic: Literally “face,” but implies “honor.” It is the compensation paid for killing a man under Irish law. Eraic is based on a man’s social rank and is paid in cattle.

Fian (plural fiannai): A group of warriors, either serving a king as personal guards or living outside the normal bounds of society as mock-outlaws.

Fir Bolg: A race of magic people that invaded Mythic Ireland long ago.

Fomórach (singular Fomóir): Magic creatures, corresponding to the Greek titans and primordial Scandinavian giants.

Macgnímartha: Hermetic wizards who have finished apprenticeship but are not yet magi.

Olamh (plural. ollúna): The highest rank for a bard or learned man.

Ráth: A wooden palisade ringfort surrounding a cluster of wooden huts.

Rí: King, of which there are several categories.

Sí, aes sí: The faerie people.

Síd (pural. sídhe): A Faerie mound.

Túath (plural túatha): The clan of people descended from a single ancestor. It also means the group’s traditional territory.

Tuatha Dé Danann (also Tuatha Dé): Faerie creatures, the pagan gods and heroes of ancient Ireland.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:51, Sat 09 May 2020.

Treaties

Treaties record agreements between magi, covenants, or any other supernatural faction. Most Hibernian law consists of specific treaties created for specific individuals and cases rather than general rules. This makes it dense, cumbersome, and counter-intuitive. A ruling in a case involving vis, a magus, and a faerie and settled in the magus’ favor in Munster in 1134 may not influence a case involving the same elements in 1220. This is deemed untenable by the English magi and they have demanded change at every Tribunal. In many ways, this mirrors the body of Brehon Law relied upon for centuries by the native Irish people before the mundane English nobles came.

A treaty may be made between any individuals with right to be heard at Tribunal. This includes magi, covenants, the Order of Hermes, the Tuathe Dé, the Coill Trí, and so on. They may be temporary, permanent, or have conditions specified which release the parties from their agreement. It is for the parties on either side of a case to come to an agreement, with the assistance of a Quaesitor, and the Tribunal’s task is to ensure that the parties reach agreement. No treaty may break the peripheral code or bind a magus to actions that would be against the Oath.


Founding a Covenant

The Order requires a magus to be resident in a Tribunal to exercise their right to vote. In Hibernia, this is through membership of a recognized covenant. Those outside of a covenant are considered vagrant and risk exile, no matter how many years the magus has lived on Irish soil. However, any magus can found a covenant, as long as he can prove possession of land, wealth, and a trophy, or cathach. The land is any space upon which to build a home that the magi have protected for a year. For historical reasons, wealth has always been represented by cattle in Ireland, and so covenants must possess cattle. The cathach, is an item or relic of some significance to the covenant, which must be displayed at Tribunal by way of identifying the covenant.

A covenant’s cathach must be:

A Magical Treasure: Not necessarily Hermetic or of the Magic realm, but it must trigger a “yes” response when an Intellego Vim spell is cast on it.

Taken: The cathach must be taken, not made by the claimant magi. It could be taken from the land, from the magic realm, or from another magus or covenant. The nature of the acquisition is important as it becomes part of the cathach’s story and part of the character of the covenant.

Significant: It must have a story behind it, either being a thing of legend itself, or created by a legendary or noted figure.

Displayed: It must be brought to Tribunal to prove right of residency and when not at Tribunal it must be kept outside of the covenant’s Aegis of the Hearth.

If the magi can hold these three symbols and support themselves for a year, they have the right to represent themselves at Tribunal. Other magi may attempt to take the cathach before the year is out, and if successful the covenant cannot legally form. The raiders must adhere to the Code of Hermes and cannot harm the resident magi unless Wizard War has been declared. However, any magus caught in possession of a cathach claimed by another forfeits their immunity, much as they would if caught in a sanctum. The covenant’s cattle are similarly protected, though they could be kept within an Aegis should the covenant wish. This harks back to the earliest days of the Order in Ireland when the four magi of Circulus Ruber vowed to defend their territory for a year if need be, along with the treasures within.

Once a covenant has defended its cathach, its land, and its cattle for a year, the covenant petitions the praeco for recognition and to have its name and lands recorded at the Mercer House of Leth Moga. From this point on, the covenant receives visits from the Tribunal’s redcaps. A covenant’s lands are defined by its vis sources and these consist of all sources that a magus can encircle between sunrise and sunset, using no spells or enchanted devices to speed his progress. These sources are protected under law; any magus raiding them commits the crime of depriving a magus of his magical power. Sources claimed outside of these legally defined lands enjoy no such legal protection. For this reason, covenants mark their vis sources with their covenant’s symbol. No magus outside of a covenant may claim Hibernia as his Tribunal of residence and only those who prove residence may vote at Tribunal . Covenants attending without a cathach have failed to prove their magi’s right of residence.

Independent Magi

It may be tempting, and has been known, for younger magi to live outside of a covenant. After all, they have no cathach to protect and votes at Tribunal matter only every seven years. But such a group receives no official visits from Redcaps, has no voice at Tribunal, and has no legally-defined property protected under the code.

Unlike the continent, Hibernia does not recognize chapter houses nor liege and vassal covenants. If a magus no longer wants to live in his current covenant, he must enter or found another, or forgo the Tribunal’s legal protection. Despite the obvious vulnerabilities, there are many independent magi who choose a solitary life over living with other magi and most Houses are represented among their number. In order to vote, they must produce a cathach, however, and must show that they have land, and prove their wealth through the keeping of cattle. In all respects, they must found a covenant, even though they may be its sole member.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:11, Sat 09 May 2020.

While treaties are the normal run of business with Hibernia, the Peripheral Code has some important provisions. The principle clarifications are outlined below.  Please be aware that this is more for quick reference purposes, and you should go read the full writeup in the tribunal book to understand everything in depth.

Deprivation of Magical Power: Only those resources within the land claimed by a covenant are protected by these provisions. Any resources outside of that boundary are considered common land. While covenants may put their marker upon resources they consider theirs, they must defend them against others if they wish to keep them.

Slaying a Magus and Wizard War: Slaying a magus outside of Wizard War is a high crime, though the standard defenses do apply. Any magus attempting to remove an apprentice
from a covenant, take a cathach, enter another’s sanctum, assault a magus’ familiar, or raid vis sources belonging to a covenant forfeits their immunity. As discussed above, Wizard War is easily declared and may be prosecuted by multiple opponents. The declaration must be made in person and before witnesses and a month must pass before the war commences.

Abide by Tribunal Decisions: As described in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 48, the Presiding Quaesitor may use his right of veto where he believes that the will of the Tribunal unambiguously conflicts with any reasonable interpretation of the Oath or the Code. This provision gives Hibernia leeway to develop their own reasonable interpretation of the Code.

Voting Rights: Magi who prove residence by presenting their covenant’s cathach have a single vote, that they may lend to a proxy as elsewhere. Hibernia also recognizes the votes of appointed supernatural ambassadors to the Tribunal, representatives of the supernatural realms and ancient races of Ireland. These votes carry the same weight as any other and must be respected.

Endangerment and Mundane Interference: Hibernia takes a Transitionalist view on mundane interference. It is accepted that in a Tribunal as small as Hibernia, where magi are drawn from a small population and frequently maintain familial ties, association with mundanes is inevitable. Given Ireland’s history of kings seeking counsel from druids, magi of the Order have frequently been approached by those in search of wisdom. Those bringing charges of interference must show that the Order has been endangered as a result.

Scrying: Hibernia imposes a heavy burden of evidence in scrying accusations. Without clear evidence of magical scrying detected by a “trustworthy person,” the Tribunal requires that the information must have been impossible to gain without magical intervention. As a result, most magi accept that some degree of scrying is inevitable and prefer to settle the matter directly rather than bring a complaint before Tribunal.

Apprentices: The Hibernian Peripheral Code states that those in their macgnímartha are no longer the responsibility of their parens. Magi do have the duty to surrender their apprentices to those of House Bonisagus, but under the Peripheral Code, the Bonisagus must make the claim at Tribunal, either when the apprentice is first presented by the Coill Trí or his parens, or at any subsequent Tribunal before the apprentice commences Macgnímartha.

Casting Out: In preference to casting a magus from his House or the Order, Hibernia reserves the right of exile. An exiled magus must leave Hibernia and failure to do so results in a March being called against him. An exile may petition for return, in which case the exile must find a resident magus willing to stand surety and to plead his case at Tribunal. Such cases are given to free vote.

Enemies and Allies: The elder races of Ireland, the Formorach, the Tuatha Dé, and the Fir Bolg, are all recognized as allies of the Order in Ireland. Importantly, in measures set out in the Treaty of Cnoc Maol Réidh, so is the Coill Trí. This status provides some important protection. Allies of the Order must be given the same warning as a magus of any Wizard War. This allows the non-Hermetic opponent chance to find an accommodation and prevent hostilities.

Hermetic Prices

Item Creation: Cost x3 pawns of vis

Other Seasonal Labwork: Vis Extraction lab total x2 pawns of vis

Teaching:

Spells - Score/15 pawns (rounded up).  Note that anything over 90 will need a good explanation.

Arts/Supernatural Abilities -

Teaching Score (not counting specialty) - 3/5/7/9
Art/Ability Score - 5(3)/10(5)/15(7)/20(9)

Please note that you'll still have to work with us to determine who the teacher is so that we can flesh them out.  We may assign additional bonuses (Com/Lab/etc) as we deem appropriate.

Borrowing an Apprentice - 1-3 pawns, generally speaking, depending on the age/quality of the apprentice.

Borrowing a Lab - 2-5 pawns, generally speaking, depending on the quality of the lab.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:37, Sat 24 July 2021.