Hereby we, the undersigned Magi of the Enigmatic Order of Hermes, do proclaim our solemn pactum, that we may exchange knowledge and share the fruits of our labors, safeguard one another's persons against danger, and prosper under the auspices of wise counsel.
We hereby dedicate our conventus to furthering the study of magic in the traditions of our forefathers; to the exchange of knowledge; to preserving and defending the august and Enigmatic Order of Hermes; and to promoting peace and goodwill among the members of that Order. 1
The name of our conventus shall be Spiritus Draconis, and its symbol shall be a red dragon rampant.
We swear to uphold the Code of the Order of Hermes. We recognize the authority of the Grand Tribunal of the Order of Hermes as paramount, the sole and lawful authority which preserves the peace among magi and disseminates the wisdom of Bonisagus and the Founders.
We recognize the lawful authority of the Tribunal of Stonehenge as invested in it by the Grand Tribunal. We swear to abide by the rulings of the Tribunal and to obey its edicts. We swear to submit to the rulings of the Quaesitores appointed by our Tribunal and to aid them in their dispensation of justice. Should any member of this conventus stand accused of breaking the Code, we will give him neither aid nor comfort, but will assist the Quaesitoris in apprehending him forthwith.
We declare our allegiance to the Enigmatic Order of Hermes and to the Tribunal of Stonehenge. To the authority of the Tribunal of Stonehenge, and to no other Tribunal of the Order save the Grand Tribunal, we pledge our loyalty and support. The enemies of the Order are our enemies; the friends of the Order are our friends. We renounce and eternally forswear allegiance to all others outside the Order. 2
Each member of this conventus shall have a permanent seat on its Wizards' Council. Each member of the Council shall have one vote which shall be respected as equal.
Except as noted in the pactum, a simple majority is sufficient to enact the will of the Wizards' Council. In the case of a tied vote, the issue will be decided by certamen.
The Council shall have the following powers: it shall control, or delegate control of, all vis and monies of the Treasury. The Council shall establish and maintain a Library and provide for the hiring of servants and artisans. The Council shall ratify all pacts and agreements with other covenants of the Order. The Council shall oversee all additional business of the covenant and shall enact the collective will of its members. 3
The Council shall convene at least once per season, within three days of the start of that season. A quorum at a meeting shall consist of two-thirds of the covenant members. If a quorum cannot be achieved, then the meeting will be postponed until the next season.
Each member of the Council must attend all meetings unless excused by a majority of his peers. A magus who is so excused may leave his sigilum with another council member to use in his stead.
In the dispensation of its duties, the Council is empowered to nominate officers and to delegate to them such administrative duties as it deems fitting. Offices dealing with magical matters, such as maintaining the Hermetic library or representing the conventus in the affairs of the Order, must be filled by a Council member. Offices limited to mundane affairs may be filled by non-magi. Elections for all such offices may be held at any time, pursuant to a motion to do so. 4
Officers of the conventus and guests of Council members who are not members of the Order of Hermes may be allowed to attend and speak at meetings, but they may not vote. A vote of the Council may grant or revoke, permanently or for a specified period, the privilege of non-members to attend and to speak.
The conventus will provide each member with sufficient private space to establish his sanctum and magical laboratory. The conventus shall provide reasonable funds for the equipping and provisioning of each member's laboratory.
Each magus shall have full and unrestricted access to the conventus's library. Should two or more magi contest the right to use a given tome in a given season, their dispute shall be resolved according to Article V.
Each member of the conventus shall be entitled to reasonable access to its mundane Treasury, its mundane facilities, and the services of its warriors and artisans. If any magus feels that mundane resources are being unduly denied him, he may bring his complaint before the Council and receive justice.
Members of the conventus must attend Council meetings unless duly excused. They must champion the Council in certamen when called upon to do so.
Any member who discovers vis or other treasure within two leagues' distance of the conventus must bring it before the Council. The Council will distribute the find as it sees fit, or enter it into the Treasury.
The Council may require, of each member, service for no more than one Season each year to administer the Council's business, to contribute to the Library, and to perform other duties as needed for the security and prosperity of the Covenant. The time, nature, and extent of this service shall be decreed by majority vote if they cannot be otherwise agreed upon. 5
We swear that we will live together as brothers and maintain an equitable peace. Should any dispute arise between members of this conventus, their issue shall be decided forthwith by certamen, in accordance with the Code of the Order of Hermes and the Peripheral Code of the Tribunal of Stonehenge. Should both parties not agree to Certamen, their dispute shall be arbitrated by the consensus of their peers.
The conventus shall establish in the country of Tergeigl, to the east of the River Clwyd, a compound with such facilities as are required for the Artes Magicae. This compound shall include a private Laboratory for each magus, and a separate Sanctum for each which shall encompass his Laboratory. The maintenance of the compound as a whole shall be provided by a Treasury which shall be established and administered by the magi in Council.
The conventus shall lay claim to a territory around its compound for a radius of two leagues, in accordance with the law of the Order and the precedents of the Tribunal of Stonehenge. Within this territory, only the sancti of the magi of Spiritus Draconis are considered private property. All else belongs to the conventus as a whole. All vis gathered from the conventus's territory is to be placed in the conventus Treasury, to be used or distributed according to the edict of the Council.
With these Articles we bring together five sovereign magi and proclaim our conventus. Henceforth we shall call one another "sodalis." The enemies of one are the enemies of all; the allies of one are the allies of all. Together we comprise a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
This we swear on the Eleventh day of Gemini in the one thousand, three hundred forty-second year of Pisces. What we have today brought together, let none put asunder.
(Signed,)
Augustin Colaire (Summer, 1341)
Titus Verditius Clementis (Summer, 1341)
Cygnar ap Glyndyr (Summer, 1341)
Eirian Willowwood Summer, 1341)
Bynach Gam (Summer, 1341; stricken Autumn, 1342)
Rydderch Verditius Ferrarius (added Spring, 1358)
Catrin Ex Miscellanea (added Autumn, 1359; stricken Summer,
1362)
Rhiannon Ex Miscellanea (added Summer, 1362)
Mildred, scholae Bjornaeris (added Summer, 1364)
Fluvant de la Caverne (added Spring, 1365)
The Council shall, in the Spring of each year, approve a budget of vis to provide for the Aegis of the Hearth and other needs as the Council sees fit.
The Treasury shall endeavor to maintain a balance of six pawns of vis in each Art. Such amount is sufficient for a sixth-Magnitude spell or Ritual and is deemed adequate for the conventus's projects and as a reserve for emergencies. Any use of the Treasury which would deplete it below six pawns in any Art requires a majority vote of the Council.
Each Spring, the Council or its designated Treasurer shall declare the total amount of vis in the Treasury according to its Art, and the total amounts collected and expended during the previous year. Any surplus vis collected by the Treasury beyond what was spent shall be distributed among the magi of the conventus.
The Council shall divide the quantity of the surplus, in pawns, so that each magus recieves an equal share. Any remaining amount which is not evenly divisible shall remain in the Treasury for the betterment of the conventus. Each magus may withdraw from the Treasury a number of pawns of vis not exceeding his share. Such withdrawal may at any time during the year. Each magus may withdraw vis of any Art subject to two conditions. First, the Council must approve any withdrawal that would bring the Treasury below six pawns in that Art. Second, if two or more magi desire to withdraw vis of the same Art, that Art being in limited supply, their dispute shall be resolved according to Article V of this pactum.
This Amendment shall not be construed as to prohibit the Council from making additional distributions of vis from the Treasury according to its judgement.
We hereby ratify this Amendment by unanimous vote of the Council on the second day of Aries, in the one thousand, three hundred sixty-fifth year of Pisces. May the Order of Hermes endure for a thousand years.
1 Many covenants include in their pactum a dedication clause, though usually the dedication is lofty and vague like this one. The dedication of Spiritus Draconis is typical, though the founding magi were sincere when they wrote it. Colaire wanted to further dedicate the covenant to promoting goodwill between magi and mundanes, but the other founders would not agree to such a controversial dedication.
2 This is a long-winded way of saying that the covenant belongs to the Stonehenge Tribunal. The renunciation of allegiance to outsiders is a standard clause that looks good to the Quaesitoris but could lead to political problems later on. This section prohibits the magi from swearing fealty to a noble: something the Order discourages, but which can be Hermetically legal under the right circumstances. Effectively, this clause forces the covenant to stay outside the mundane feudal system.
3 The powers of the Council were left deliberately broad and vague; the founding magi thought it was important to achieve consensus, so they gave the Council close oversight over day-to-day affairs. This means that now, as the covenant has become better established, Council meetings often bog down in pedantic management debates over issues the magi are ill-qualified to even decide. The founders anticipated creating elected offices as a way out of this quagmire, see note 4.
4 Specifically, this section was included to let the magi designate an Autocrat (officer who oversees all mundane affairs of the covenant). However, they have not yet actually got around to doing so. The founding magi like making the mundane budget a political bargaining chip. Appointing an Autocrat would certainly streamline the Council meetings, but the ease of calling new elections means that merely appointing an Autocrat offers slim hope of de-politicizing the covenant's mundane affairs.
5 This section is a relic from the early days of the covenant, when the founding magi had to take time away from their laboratories to oversee the day-to-day business of the covenant. Technically, the annual service can be without pay or compensation of any kind, but in practice, the Wizards' Council is generous about approving compensation in vis for magi who work on the covenant's behalf. Still, this clause is occasionally invoked- it was used to compel Rydderch to work in the mine in Winter, 1223, and was invoked again in 1225 to get the senior magi to write new tomes for the library.