Malatesta Charter
Modeled on the L'Etoile D'Argent:Chartero
Contents:
1. The Roles of Malatesta
2. Dedication
3. Requirements of Membership
4. Rights and Privileges
5. Vis Distribution
6. Duties and Responsibilities
7. Magi Positions
8. Mundane Positions
9. Grog Hierarchie
10. Council Meetings
11. Laws of Community
12. Certamen within the Covenant
13. Outside Relations
14. Tribunals
List of Roles
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This be the charter of the Covenant Malatesta, founded the month of April, 1201, at the Castel d' Alfiolo, near Gubbio, in Umbria, in the Papal States. The founders and charter Members xxx
This charter has been rewritten at the Winter Council of the Covenant Malatesta in the year 1201. This renewed charter has been signed in winter 1201 by xxx
This Covenant is forthwith dedicated to increasing the strength of the Order and bringing harmony to the Order as a whole. This dedication is made not simply in name, but shall be the guiding principle of the folk of Malatesta. May the strength and the peace of the order increase as does ours.
Each Member of this Covenant shall be a Member in good standing of the Order of Hermes. If ever a Member of the Covenant is cast out from the Order, they shall be considered cast out of this Covenant as well, without any delay.
In the following chapters of the charter 'Member' shall denote all Probationary and Full but not Associate Members. 'Magi', in context with Covenant, shall denote Members and Associate Members.
To become an Associate Member of Malatesta, a Magus must simply apply at a Council Meeting. Henceforth, they shall be an Associate Member as soon as they swear an Oath of Allegiance to Malatesta and this charter. The only limitation to acceptance as an Associate Member of Malatesta is that no Members shall be accepted that are older than the currently oldest Member of the Covenant.
Associate Members shall have all rights and privileges, and all duties and responsibilities of a Full Member except for the right to vote at Covenant Council meetings.
After a Magus has Associate Member status for two years a vote shall be taken at a Council meeting to see if the Magus shall gain Full Membership. Therefore all Full Members present at the Council may vote. If the Council votes to accept the Associate Member, and no more than one Full member votes against that person, they shall at once become a Full Member of Malatesta.
Every Member of Malatesta may put themself into the status of a Sleeping Member. From that point on they shall have neither the Rights nor the Duties stated below. They shall be treated like any other Member of the Order of Hermes not belonging to Malatesta. The Sleeping Member may resume their former status at Malatesta, if two out of three Full Members agree.
All Magi of this Covenant, including Associate Members and Full Members shall have all of the following rights and priveleges. The only exception shall be that Associate Members will not be given the right to vote, except by vote of the Council. If one of the servants who has been entrusted with the responsibility to oversee the finances, the equipment, the grogs, or the library of the Covenant has good reason to believe that a resource is in perilously short supply, they may delay providing it to a Magus until a Council meeting has been called. All rights, except the basic rights to food and lodging, may be denied by vote of Council.
All Magi of the Covenant of Malatesta are entitled to the basic rights of the food and lodging required for good health, all mundane resources required for their ongoing studies, and the right to attend and speak at a meeting of the Council.
All Magi of Malatesta may borrow arcane resources of the Covenant for their own use by vote of Council. This includes, but is not restriced to, the right to borrow from the vis pool (if any) and the right to borrow any magical items belonging to the Covenant (if any.) In extraordinary circumstances, any Magus may access these resources without the vote of Council. Such allocations shall be discussed and voted on at the next meeting of the Council. If an expendable resource such as vis is consumed, the Magus shall be expected to repay it in a timely manner, except by vote of Council.
All Magi of Malatesta are entitled to access the skills and talents of any and all of those Mundanes who live and work at the Covenant.
All Magi of Malatesta are entitled to access the full library of the Covenant, both mundane and arcane. Each Magus is allowed to keep a book for no more than one season before they must allow another Magus to read from it.
When a Magus is hurt upon a Covenant mission in a manner which will not heal normally, he may expect that Covenant resources will be used to heal him. This shall include, but not be limited to, expenditure of vis and seasons spent to invent appropriate spells or rituals. All grogs and companions shall be subject to these same protections if they are wounded upon Covenant missions.
Each Magus who is a Member of Malatesta shall have a room filling one floor of one of the old buidlings at Castel d'Alfiolo. If there is no room in any of the existing buidlings, a new one shall be constructed as soon as is possible.
Associate and Full Members receive a share of the vis received by any member who received any, for any reason, regardless of whether they assisted in the endeavor or not. Vis is dispersed in order of joining the Covenant on a continuously rotating basis. Example, Magi Alfiolo did not go on the latest mission, but is next in line to get a share of vis. When the expedition returns, he gets choice of one of the collected vis. If a large amount was recovered, he may get to choose once or twice again. Sometimes this distribution of vis is put off until the end of the year, to the Winter Council meeting.
6. Duties and Responsibilities
All Members of the Covenant, including Associate, Probationary and Full Members, shall be expected to follow all of the following duties and responsibilities, unless otherwise noted. Any Magus may be excepted from a duty only by vote of Council.
All Magi shall provide an arcane connection to themselves when they enter the Covenant, and they shall provide new ones if the old ones are ever destroyed. These arcane connections shall only be used by vote of Council, except in extraordinary circumstances, in which case they may be used at once, but shall be discussed and voted upon at the next Council.
Each Magus must surrender all money acquired on Covenant expeditions. All of the vis gained on any expeditions shall be given to the Covenant's for distribution.
Any magic items gained upon Covenant missions shall go to the Covenant, and be allocated by vote of Council.
Each Associate and Probationary Member must inform the Autocrat whenever the Member leaves the Covenant grounds, and provide information on their intended destination(s) and expected return.
Associate Members must inform the Autocrat immediately upon their return.
Every Member shall be assigned a Position at the Covenant at the first Council meeting at which they are not an Associate Member. These positions should be reflective of the strengths of each individual Magus. Every Spring, when jobs are assigned to the Magi for the year, the Magi's positions should be taken into account, as they reflect what each Magus is best at. Many of the positions carry responsibilities which take less than a season of service a year. All Magi shall always be responsible for a full season of service per year, except as otherwise noted in Duties and Responsibilites above, so other responsibilities shall be assigned by vote of Council whenever this is the case. Each Magus may hold no more than one position at a time, although his position may be changed at any time by vote of Council. No position shall be vacant, except by vote of the Council. Enumerated, the positions shall be eight. They are: High Initiate, President, Protector, Hunter, Faerie Envoy and Healer.
The High Initiate shall be a unique position, unless voted otherwise by the Council, and should be filled at all times. In general, the High Initiate shall oversee the activities of the Covenant. He shall also be responsible for acting as an outward representative of the Covenant, which shall include attending Tribunals in the Covenant's name. Due to this role, the Magus who is assigned the High Initiate position may not be a Member of any other Covenant, and his sigil may not be pledged to any other. A Magus who has not won his sigil from his master is not considered to have it pledged to that person, and thus may fill the High Initiate position. In his absence, the president shall take on the High Initiate's normal responsibilities while the High Initiate is gone. The Autocrat shall directly report to the High Initiate, except for matters which require the full attention of the Council.
The President shall be a unique position, unless otherwise voted by the Council, and should be filled at all times. The President presides all Council Meetings and is responsible for votes and this charter. He also supervises the obedience of all Members to this charter.
The Faerie Envoy shall be a unique position, unless otherwise voted by the Council. They shall be in charge of all Faerie affairs.
The Hunter shall be the default position, and every Magus should be assigned to it if they are not well suited to any other position. The Hunters shall be in charge of vis collection and all external military affairs. If there are multiple Hunters, a Head Hunter may be chosen by vote of Council.
The Protectors shall be in charge of all internal military affairs, which shall also include specific protections for the Covenant, such as the Aegis of the Hearth. The Grog Captain shall report directly to the Protector, or to the Head Protector, if there are several. By default, the grogs shall be under the jurisdiction of the Protectors, except when they are otherwise assigned, by the Protectors, or as noted in the Mundane Positions section below. If there are multiple Protectors, a Head Protector may be chosen by vote of Council.
The Healers shall be responsible for the health and wellbeing of the Members of Malatesta. This includes, but is not limited to, magical and nonmagical healing and reasearching and inventing new spells or rituals.
There shall be six major Mundane Positions at Malatesta. They shall be: Autocrat, Grog Captain, Head Chirurgeon, Head Cook, Head Farmer, and Sage. The Autocrat position shall be filled by vote of Council. All other positions shall be filled by the Autocrat, although a vote of Council may override any such election.
The Autocrat shall be responsible for the general Mundane runnings of the Covenant. Among other things, they shall be directly responsible for the monetary resources of the Covenant and the Library, except when such matters require the attention of either the Council or the High Initiate. The Autocrat shall report directly to the High Initiate, and the other six Major Mundanes shall report directly to the Autocrat.
The Grog Captain shall be responsible for all of the grogs of Malatesta. This does not include the soldiers of Baron Alfiolo and the Captain does not report to the Baron. He should be one of the grogs of the highest rank, preferably Lead, as explained below in the Grog Hierarchie section, although exact decision upon the Grog Captain will be made by the Autocrat, as explained above. The Grog Captain shall be expected to make appropriate reports both to the Autocrat and to the Head Protector.
The Head Chirurgeon shall be a skilled healer, responsible for the well being of the Members of Malatesta. If the Covenant is sufficiently large, he may have other chirurgeons under his control. The Head Chirurgeon shall report to the Autocrat.
The Head Cook shall be responsible for the meals of the Covenant, as well as other mundane matters assigned to him by the Autocrat. If the Covenant is sufficiently large, he may have other cooks or servants under his control. The Head Cook shall report directly to the Autocrat.
The Head Farmer shall be responsible for overseeing any and all farmers who grow crops on and about the lands of Baron Alfiolo. He shall report directly to the Autocrat, but also keep Baron Alfiolo informed of the status of the lands.
The Sage shall be responsible for learning Mundane subjects. He shall do his best to be well versed in many manners, Arcane and Mundane, so that when an obscure fact is needed, he can provide it or a reference to it. The Sage shall report to the Autocrat.
At all times, Malatesta will try and maintain a number of grogs approximately double the number of the Magi who are Members of the Covenant. Each grog shall be given a specific position. These positions shall be broken up into two major categories, the Guardians and the Specialists.
The Guardians shall comprise approximately two thirds of the grogs at Malatesta. First, every Full Member of Malatesta shall be assigned a Personal Guardian. This assignment shall be permanent for the life time of the grog or Magus, unless the Magus requests a change, and there are grogs available. A Guardian shall be assigned to a Full Member as soon as possible, when there are grogs available. The rest of the Guardians shall be known as Covenant Guardians. It shall be their jobs to work directly with the Protectors to defend the Covenant.
The Specialists shall comprise approximately one third of the grogs at Malatesta. These will be grogs who are well trained for work in specific environments. Positions shall include Wood Specialists, City Specialists, Mountain Specialists and Water Specialists. The Wood and Mountain Specialists shall work with the Hunters, and the City Specialists with the Head Protector.
In addition to the Guardians and Specialists, there shall also be a Grog Captain. He is one of the seven major Mundanes of the Covenant, detailed above.
If there are less than the total desired number of Grogs at L'Etoile D'Argent, Personal Guardians shall be assigned first; first to Hunters and others who especially need them, and there may be an overlap among the positions. If the number of grogs at Malatesta is approximately the desired number, double the number of Magi, there should be no overlap among positions.
Among the grogs, there shall be seven ranks. The higher ranks shall have better working and retirement benefits than the lesser ranks, although the exact decisions as to what these shall be shall be made by the Autocrat, except by vote of Council. The grogs of higher rank shall also have authority over the grogs of lesser rank upon any expedition. The ranks shall be represented by the metals associated with the spheres. In order, from greatest to least, they shall be silver, mercury, copper, gold, iron, tin and lead.
After every five years of service, a grog shall come up for review, unless a Magus asks a grog to be brought up for review earlier, due to exceptional service. If any one Member is willing to step forward and speak for the grog, the grog shall be promoted by one rank, except by vote of Council.
All grogs, as well as all Major Mundanes, who are wounded in the service of the Covenant shall be given Covenant supplies to heal their wounds, as is noted above in Rights and Privileges. Longevity Potions and Magic Items will not be provided to Mundanes by the Covenant, although any individual Magus may provide such rewards to any grogs that he wants to.
Four times a year, at the start of each season, there shall be a Council Meeting at Malatesta, held in the Council Room, except in extraordinary cases. If Council Meetings are held at other times, all Magi at the Covenant must be notified. [Metagaming, players will not roleplay these meeting except for the highlights of one meeting every couple years.]
Only Magi, their apprentices, their familiars, their guardian grogs, and the seven major Mundanes, noted above, are allowed at Council Meetings, except by vote of Council.
Decisions may only be made at Council Meetings if there is a quorum. There shall be a quorum if three quarters of the Magi of Malatesta are present. If a Magus is absent, he may leave his vote with another Magus, an apprentice or a familiar. As long as someone at the Council Meeting holds a Magus' vote for the meeting, by means of a proxy, the Magus shall be counted as present for purposes of quorum.
Unless otherwise noted, all votes at Malatesta shall require two thirds of the votes to pass. Votes to admit new Full Members shall require unanimous consent of all Full Members, while votes to remove Full Members from the Covenant or change this charter shall require unanimous consent minus one. To remove a Probationary or Associate Member from the Covenant shall only require one vote, as is mentioned in Requiremens of Membership.
No spells or other magical activity are allowed within Council meetings without the consent of the President and all Members who will be affected by the spell. Members may be subjected to spells which they object to if a vote of the Council approves it. This ban on magical activities includes Certamen. At the consent of the President and all parties involved, however, the meeting may be suspended for Certamen, to be resumed, without the attendance of the defeated Members, when the Certamen is decided.
Within the confines of Malatesta, the Members should do what they can to obey the rules of common courtesy to all others. This shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
The rules of sanctums shall not be applied to the other Magi of Malatesta, although normal rules of courtesy are to be observed.
Visitors within the Covenant shall not be hurt.
Items shall not be taken from other Members of the Covenant, except in extraordinary circumstances. These circumstances shall be reviewed at the next Council Meeting, and the item shall be returned as soon as it is no longer needed.
If a Magus finds an object or pet belonging to another member of the Covenant, he should try and return it as soon as possible.
Magi should try to control their possessions, pets, children and guests.
If someone has some item and is not using it, and someone else could use it, the owning Magus should lend out the item, until such a time as the owning Magus needs it, or the borrowing Magus no longer does.
If some Magus possesses an item which is useless to him, he should donate it to the Covenant for appropriate allocation.
12. Certamen within the Covenant
Certamen is generaly allowed at the Duelling Circle of the Covenant, but at least one other Full Member must be informed that a Certamen takes place.
Elsewhere a Certmanen may be allowed by the High Initiate. He can resign this right to the President. If neither the High Initiate nor the President is present to the Covenant a Council should take place. If the High Initiate is involved into Certamen the President may allow it. If a Certamen between the High Initiate and the President should take place only a vote of all present Full Members can permit it.
Additionally, every Certamen at the Covenant must be witnessed by at least one not involved Full Member of Malatesta.
Certamen on Covenant grounds takes the traditional format, with the challenger choosing the technique and the challenged choosing the form of the contest.
The following rules should be applied by Magi when dealing with the world beyond Malatesta:
The location of Malatesta shall be kept secret from all Mundanes, except by vote of Council.
The Magi of Malatesta shall not attack or offend the grogs or Magi of other Covenants, unless their life is in danger or the matter is part of an official Wizard's War or March. By vote of Council, this rule can be abridged.
The Magi of Malatesta shall be united at Tribunals, as is described later, in the Tribunals section.
At the Spring Council Meeting, before each Tribunal, the Magi of the Covenant shall come together to decide upon votes at the coming Tribunal. All Magi shall put their sigils into a central pool of sigils, to be used by the Covenant at Tribunal, unless their sigil is pledged to some person outside of the Covenant. Magi who do not put their sigil in this pool, due to it being loaned out, may not vote on how the sigils shall be used.
Important issues that are expected to be discussed at the Tribunal shall be brought up at the Council Meeting, and each Member of Malatesta shall vote how he would like the sigils used. A simple majority shall win the vote, and the sigils shall all be used in that manner at the Tribunal. Any Magus may ask that his sigil be abstained from any specific vote, but this should only be done in the most extraordinary of cases. Magi should try to support their Covenant, even if the final decision goes against what they originally voted for. If new issues are brought up at the Tribunal, a vote among all Members of Malatesta who are present shall be taken, and all of the sigils shall be used in the manner that the majority decided, except those for which abstentions have been requested.
Vis may be allocated for use at Tribunals as per the usual vote of Council necessary for allocation of arcane resources.
Copyright © 1997 by Michael Derry, derry@jugenstil.com
Updated August 22, 1997