The Lex Magicus of Canberra

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Consilium Charter

• All cabals residing in the city of Canberra have the right to their own Councilor on the Consilium's Ruling Council.
  • A cabal's Councilor is to be appointed by their own choosing and at their own discretion - each cabal is responsible for resolving their own disputes of representation.
• The Consilium's Ruling Council is the law-making body of the Consilium, all mages of the Consilium must abide by their rulings.
• The Hierarch has the right of tie-breaking should the Ruling Council fail to arrive at a decision on a matter it has put to a vote.

Lex Magicus Precepts

Precepts are not laws - instead precepts are guiding conventions of legal practice; ideas that can be cited as being the spirit of the law, or the zeitgeist of the Consilium. These traditions aid in the establishment of new laws and also act as a common way to articulate legal concepts.

• Secrecy: the idea that the existence of magic must be kept secret from those who do not practice magic (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp57-58)
• Recognition: the idea that a Consilium must define who falls under its legal authority, and that an individual must be "recognised" by a Consilium (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, p59).
• Protectorate: the idea that a Consilium should enforce the protection of the sanctums of its members, both legally and through arcane measures if a mage requests it (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp59-60).
• Hubris: the idea that a Consilium has authority to intervene when an immoral action has been taken (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp61-62).
• War: the idea that if an issue of contention cannot be resolved, a mage or cabal can temporarily withdraw from the Consilium's system of law and engage in warfare against the target of their ire, often announcing terms of aggression and limits to the conflict (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp61-62). The Canberra Consilium has expressed a very clear limitation on this precept, with the Duel Arcane so far being the only acceptable form of inter-mage conflict resolution outside of the Council's judgement.

In addition to the standard precepts, the Consilium of Canberra has also expressed the following legal precept:

• Caucus: the idea that no one individual should have sole authority in certain kinds of rulings over other Consilium members. In particular, issues of punishment have been clearly defined as being off limits to any one individual's judgement, with Emeritus being hazily defined as under this umbrella as well.

Gold Law

• The Great Rights (for more details see Sanctum and Sigil, pp26-32)
  • The Right of Crossing
  • The Right of Emeritus
  • The Right of Hospitality
  • The Right of Sanctuary
• The lesser right of dueling
• The rights of Order titles and privileges

Silver Law

Charter Clarification: The Heirarch has no right to make a decision for the Council, even if approached by a member from a different consillium and asked to make a decision by them.

The Kyū

The Ruling Council has elected to replace the traditional Tetragrammaton with a nine-tier punishment system system: Minor Reprimand The guilty party is formally stated to have committed a wrongdoing, and their transgression is declared to the Consilium. Major Reprimand The Consilium is instructed to limit their assistance to the guilty party. Payment of Debt The guilty party is declared to owe a debt, usually in the form of a favor, act or deed. Minor Penance The guilty party is required to perform an act in service to the Consilium. Major Penance The guilty party is required to perform a risky or dangerous act for the benefit of the Consilium. Severe Reprimand The Consilium is instructed not to aid the offending mage. Offering or providing assistance to such a mage merits the same punishment. Conditional Banishment The guilty party is banished from the city until a specific task is achieved or a nominated time period has elapsed. Permanent Banishment The guilty party is banished from the city in perpetuity. Sealing The guilty party is sealed within their own body, and stored in safekeeping so that they cannot threaten anyone.

Rights

Decree: The Right of Nemesis is denied to all mages within the city of Canberra.

Discussion Notes:

1. The Ruling Council agreed that, in Canberra, any scenario involving a mage needing to justify their behaviour by citing Nemesis Protocols would risk the safety of mages outside the Nemesis conflict, and thus invalidate the claim. And any behaviour not needed to be justified with Nemesis Protocols do not require their invocation. Ergo, invoking Nemesis is tantamount to a breach of Nemesis.
2. The Ruling Council also voiced agreement with the sentiment that enshrining Nemesis justifies "mutual belligerent cockbaggery" which is not conducive to wise action.
3. The Ruling Council acknowledged that Nemesis conflicts may occur with cabals and mages of other cities, but holds that such conflicts need to be suspended within the territories of Canberra.

Decree: The Ruling Council acknowledges a "right of scavenging" which may be invoked as follows:

• In public Consilium managed expeditions, all recovered items shall be distributed by judgement of the Ruling Council.
• In privately managed expeditions distribution of the recovered items shall be solely managed by the participants of said expedition.

Discussion Notes:

1. This ruling overturns a previous Bronze Law ruling resulting from a duel arcane between the Mages known as Flash Bang and Ackbar, in which Flash Bang successfully asserted that ownership of Atlantean artifacts recovered from a public Consilium expedition into an Atlantean ruin, along with rights to redistribute said artifacts, should be determined by whoever physically obtained them first.
2. Objections noted to the Ruling Council following the duel were that the precedent set would lead to unnecessary, unproductive and (in the wrong situation, or between powerful mages) potentially deadly scuffles to make first claim on such items.

Decree: No punishment may be inflicted by the Ruling Council without at least a Silver Law majority of the Council.

Decree: The Ruling Council recognises Changelings as beings who draw from the power of Arcadia, and as such extends to them the protections and courtesies of the Great Rights.

Authorities

Decree: The disposal of corpses of deceased Pentacle mages shall be the sole province of the Sentinels.

Decree: The Ruling Council authorises the Hierarch to hold a cache of items in trust on behalf of the Consilium. This Hierarch's Panopoly is to pass from Hierarch to Hierarch, being owned by no individual but rather belonging to the position itself.

Current items designated part of the Hierarch's Panopoly:

• The Crown of Cernunnos

Decree: The Ruling Council authorises the Consilium position of "Pax Signifer", tasked specifically with maintaining and ensuring the peace at Consilium gatherings.

Decree: The Ruling Council authorises the Council position of "Field Marshal", who shall have primary authority to give orders in combat situations. If no Councillors are currently specified as having this authority, such authority lies with the Hierarch.

Decree: Each member of the Ruling Council may declare one status alteration to a member of the Consilium per month.

Discussion Notes:

1. This overturns a previous Silver Law clarification of the Consilium Charter regarding the role of the Hierarch in relation to status, which was as follows: "The Heirarch has no rights to increase or decrease any status, the right to make that decision is the Ruling Councils majority alone."

Decree: The Ruling Council has the authority to grant or deny recognition of cabals within Canberra.

Discussion Notes:

1. It was strongly felt that the Ruling Council should encourage cabal culture – that is, the formation of cabals because of a common goal, purpose or ideology.
2. It was agreed that the Ruling Council could not in good conscience allow Mages to form cabals purely for the purpose of creating a new seat on the Ruling Council, as this undermined the purpose and sanctity of cabals in the city.
3. A suggestion was made regarding the formation of a cabal register to facilitate the Consilium’s understanding of each cabal’s raison d'être.
4. Technically without this authority, a banished cabal that refuses to leave the city could still maintain a seat on the Ruling Council even though its members would all be ongoing criminals.

Bans

Decree: It is to a crime against the Consilium to bring Terata of any kind not already specified in the Lex Magicus of Canberra to a Consilium gathering without first obtaining a Silver Law majority approval of the Ruling Council to do so.

Decree: Where the territory of a Terata has been identified, entering without the Terata’s consent is a crime against the Consilium unless dire need can be established.

Discussion Notes:

1. The general understanding of the term “dire need” at the time of discussion, was that it would cover issues related to the safety of Consilium members (ie, no other directions to flee, or if the Terata itself was a threat).