In this Season the Council held an especially animated meeting where we discussed many things.
We discussed the intentions of Blackthorn and how to prepare for the upcoming Tribunal. Although we cannot even guess at their motives, it is clear they harbor great enmity toward us. The Council decided that we should prepare as carefully as possible for the upcoming Tribunal, where we expect Blackthorn will make some kind of hostile move. Since we are a fairly new covenant in the Tribunal, we are unfamiliar with some of its legal precedents. This is a distinct political disadvantage and we resolved to remedy it by studying the records of past Tribunal meetings.
As a counter to any legal attack Blackthorn might make on us, we decided to prepare a charge of trespassing against Haterius. The faerie mound of the Prince of Holly is nearby our covenant; perhaps within the two-league distance tradition designates as the domain of each covenant. Unfortunately, pacing off the distance was inconclusive; the distance seemed slightly over two leagues, but we cannot be sure it was measured along a straight path.
We debated how best to learn more about Hermetic law. One suggestion was to obtain books on the subject from a friendly covenant, such as Voluntas. We decided that the only way we could gain legal knowledge in time for the upcoming Tribunal for for Rhiannon to travel to Cad Gadu in the hope of gaining access to Tribunal records. She undertook this journey, but met with ill hospitality and interminable delays and obstructions. Only with the assistance of Catrin, a young maga of Cad Gadu who briefly belonged to Spiritus Draconis, was she able even to gain admittance to the covenant.
Rydderch and Gwenever visited the Prince of Holly at his faerie mound in the Forest of Shadows. There, Rydderch presented the Prince with a gift: a wooden shield enchanted to be harder and more durable. The Prince was pleased with the gift and entertained our emissaries graciously. They learned a little about the earlier visit of Haterius of Blackthorn. Apparently, Haterius had visited the Prince only once, and had perhaps been trying to establish more regular relations. He had shown considerable interest in the history and legends of the area; history and legends which, of course, the Prince of Holly has witnessed. Gwenever and Rydderch were unable to learn more details of Haterius' particular interests.
To answer Elusdan's gift of a horse, the Council voted to send a mundane gift in return. Gryffyd the Smith made a fine sword and ornamented the hilt and pommel with silver.
Rhiannon was finally able to gain access to the old Tribunal records at Cad Gadu. She returned here in time to brief us on what she learned.
[The Chronicle then includes a summary of what Rhiannon learned from the Tribunal records. Here is an out-of-character synopsis.]
This season, the Tribunal of Stonehenge convened at Blackthorn.
We were spared the debacle of last Tribunal meeting by strong attendance. With so many magi present, Blackthorn found it could not dominate the votes as it had in 1360. Indeed, it seems that this Tribunal's votes were divided into three blocks: Blackthorn and its lackey Cercle Cassée; ourselves and Voluntas; and a neutral faction comprised chiefly of Scholae Pythagoranis and Rune Hill. This third block shamelessly solicited favors from both sides, and benefitted greatly by so doing.
Praeco Cravis of Blackthorn again tried to abuse his powers to influence the outcome of Tribunal votes, but even this advantage was not enough to overcome Blackthorn's loss of majority control.
The foremost order of business was to select delegates to the upcoming Grand Tribunal of 1367. Two Quaesitores, Fredegisa of Scholae Pythagoranis and Evodius of Aquae Sulis, campaigned to be among our Tribunal's three representatives. Both pledged to petition the Grand Tribunal to rule on the legitimacy of Quaesitor Peregrinus of Blackthorn's office as presiding Quaesitor of Stonehenge. After considerable negotiation, we of Spiritus Draconis decided to support Quaesitor Evodius of Aquae Sulis, even though he had prosecuted me at the Tribunal of 1360. We believed that Evodius' personal prestige and reputation as a conservative would carry more weight with the Grand Tribunal than Fredegisa's idealistic ideas of legal reform.
Evodius was successful in his campaign. Also selected were Fredegisa of Scholae Pythagoranis, and Peregrinus of Blackthorn. The support of Rune Hill was instrumental in securing such a favorable outcome -- support for which Rune Hill clearly expects a reward.
The very records of earlier Tribunals, to which Rhiannon gained access with great difficulty, were a matter of much debate. Blackthorn asserted that the records should be kept in whatever covenant housed the Praeco -- currently, their own. Cad Gadu insisted that the records of each Tribunal meeting should remain in the covenant where that meeting was held. Other covenants expressed vexation that Cad Gadu kept those records locked in its library and refused nearly all visitors. This denied the very justice of the Order to its member covenants. In the end, the Tribunal ordered the records be archived at the covnenant where each meeting had been held, but that they must be made available on request to any member of the Tribunal. Cad Gadu reluctantly agreed when faced with the alternative of losing control of its records.
Among the Tribunal's other proceedings, Rune Hill raised a question about the unusual winter of 1356-57, a matter in which our covenant was in no small part involved. The Tribunal passed a resolution to investigate the matter, and I fear Rydderch in particular will come under the scrutiny of the Quaesitores. There may be serious legal repurcussions if the matter of our grogs and the English tax-collectors comes to light.
Our covenant, which should be a quiet place of contemplation and study, has been overrun by raucous mundanes!
It started when the grogs learned that our librarian, Davydd, is an ordained monk. Apparently, they started going to him for confession. This led to Davydd celebrating Communion - within our very covenant walls!
Needless to say, the Council was in an uproar. We are unsure what would be the effect of Christian rituals within our magical aura, but we are unanimously of the opionion that the effect can't be beneficial. Davydd was obstinate on insisting that the grogs receive the Sacrements from him, even though they've had full access to the chapel of St. Asaph's monastery for decades. With difficulty, I was at least able to persuade him to celebrate the Mass outside the confines of our magical aura.
The grogs, encouraged by what they took as the Council's endorsement of their newfound zeal, took it upon themselves to raise a shrine in the forest for Davydd. The structure- more of a crude, three-walled shack than a shrine- was complete before we of the Council even knew what they were up to.
The grogs also carved for themselves a wooden statue with which to adorn this so-called shrine. They claim it represents Saint George, the dragon-slayer. The statue is so crude that one can only with imagination say it represents a human; instead of Saint George, it looks more like Saint Woody.
Alas, some of the grogs overheard our jests about the statue, and ignorantly started calling it by the Latin nickname we had given it -- Saint Ligneus. At this point, we finally regained Davydd as an ally: he was adamant that the grogs not pay homage to a false saint, and sternly restored a needed air of solemnity over this carnival. Clementis helped settle matters by magically refining the shape of the statue so it clearly represented Saint George -- making a point of doing this in front of the grogs, so they wouldn't mistake the statue's transformation for a miracle.
In the midst of all this nonsense, Rhiannon informed me that we had a visitor named Coel who wanted to stay with us. She said he thought he was Robin Hood. I replied that if Gwenever thought we could make use of Robin Hood, then Coel should be allowed to stay. It seems that Gwenever thought Coel useful, and he is still around, presumably employed as a new grog.
Clementis spent the season combing the silver mine in search of more Roman relics. He and his grogs turned up nothing, but Clementis was able to expand and revise our map of the upper mine tunnels.
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