(2204) The Councillors

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx's eyebrows jump up. "I did not realise you had worked so much on Spirit. I am sure that would be most helpful." Getting Puck and Aurora to work together would be a chore, but it was for the best if they could.

Dark eyes turned to Puck as he spoke. She wasn't quite sure what he meant by "convenient", but somehow she was sure it wasn't going to be good for someone. It was surprising, however, that he meant her.

The Arrow remained silent as Puck explained his accusation, measuring her response. After a moment, she spoke.

"I did not mention those spells for several reasons. Firstly, as Councillor Puck has described, these so-called witnesses were thralls under some manner of supernatural effect and not in their correct mind. Second, because I did not consider the events witnessed from these spells to be beyond the Sleeper mind to comprehend as strange coincidence - in my case, a man passing out from a significant wound. Third, because no High Speech was used in either spell to suggest the conjuration of a magical effect and lastly regarding my own accusation, because the man in question had sustained heavy injuries meaning I could have killed him - by all the evidence I possessed, an innocent Sleeper - while attempting to do so by physical means." Her tone was as measured as ever, looking between the Councillors. If Puck was going to call for this over reasonable usage, she was personally very curious as to whom would actually execute said punishement.

"As such, I plead innocence to the accusation made by Councillor Puck." To her own mind, there was no way she was guilty. "However, if we are meant to bring all possible breaches to the attention of the council, regardless of circumstance, then I should include another omission from that same report. That same evening Councillor Guru, Magus Kaze and I witnessed Councillor Puck walk into the Atrium of the theatre and speak High Speech, drawing the attention of several Sleepers." That also happened - even if it had no negative outcomes, it seemed they were supposed to outline all actions. "I did not mention this because I had been observing the people with Supernal vision. No-one attempted to intervene or approach Councillor Puck as a result of his actions and given he has not announced any attack on his person it was safe to conclude there was no negative outcome and I considered the matter closed, even if his action was.... careless. As councillors we are required to interpret the Law - this is what I did. It is evident our conclusions were different." She shrugged. "If the Council demands a trial for these events," and it was clear one of them was going to, "then it will need to be public."

[Puck]

Crystal's question is met with a scornful scrunch of Puck's eyebrow and a scoff. He momentarily turns his head to avoid saying something he would have expected from Anima before turning his attention to Aurora.

"Agreed. I've said the things, people heard it, and nobody has chosen to interrupt." The idea that people deserved to know how their council worked is something Puck considered obvious. It was one of the only things he wasn't critical of after Anima, and the fact that Crystal thought it was worth hiding said everything Puck cared to learn about Crystal's character.

"Frankly nothing you said indicates that you didn't cast a vulgar spell in front of them. Their awareness has no effect on the paradox you could have invoked, and I doubt it was holistic enough to obscure all sensation."

As for her accusation? What a joke.

"I cast a fate spell any initiate could and any mage who knows anything about magic knows sleepers are incapable of understanding High speech as anything other then a foreign language. The spell was legal because it was covert, and this is nothing more then retaliation."

[Crystal]

Whatever Puck scoffed at, they both ignored Crystal's request to take this discussion to the public and chose to keep arguing among them. While the whole room was basically waiting for things to get started. Great. "Councilors, can we have this discussion while the rest of the Consilium can hear them? Or do you want to talk this out and declare judgement? Because either way, I'd like to get things moving. It seems like we've got a lot of things to talk about today." He blinked, maybe he kept his eyes closed for a bit longer than necessary, then he stepped away from the group and went to a spot where he could address the whole room.

"Welcome. I'd like to offer an apology for having you wait - there were some things we needed to get sorted out before we began." Crystal waited a beat before continuing so that everyone could give him their attention. "I'd like to start with some news of my own and after the other Councilors have addressed some business of their own we'll open the floor to anyone else who'd like to address the Consilium."

"First, I regret to announce that Guru, Councilor of the Thyrsus, had to attend to personal matters and won't be around for a while. In his absence Magus Aurora will take over the office of Councilor." He left a moment for any reaction from the crowd or a few words from the Shaman herself. "The far more unfortunate news is that the Councilor of the Moros - Eulogy - has left Sacramento due to personal reasons. It is unlikely that he'll return anytime soon. The Moros of this Consilium are therefore asked to decide who will take up the duties of Councilor and announce their decision. They don't have to decide right away and should take a moment to discuss the matters in the near future."

Then there was one last thing. Fortunately Crystal's ego wasn't as brittle as some might think, so losing face was not what he was worried about. "With the departure of most of its members, the recently formed Cabal 'The Caretakers' is hereby disbanded." Which sucked for a whole lot of other reasons.

"For now I'd like to give the word to the other Councilors, there will be time for follow-up questions soon." With that he stepped back and looked at the others. It was probably the Acanthus who'd go next, but you never knew. Plus, at this point Crystal didn't even care.

[Zeromancer]

After hearing others speak about official business Zeromancer decided to chime in. "With Eulogy gone, there is now an opening for Moros Councilor. I would like to nominate Corn for the position. He has proven himself to be a great mentor and so I think he would be a great Councilor for any new Moros that would join us."

Zeromancer was not sure his word would instill confidence in Corn but he hoped his fellow Moros would be willing to take up the position.

[Aurora]

Aurora simply shrugged to Phoenyx. There was a lot she had worked on without telling her friend.

Listening as the Arrow spoke, defending herself and her actions. “Was anyone able to confirm they were thralls?” cause that’d be good to know. “You felt the best and safest course of action was to make him, for lack of better word, pass out? Can you tell me which spell it was?” it sounded reasonable in her head, use the least lethal spell you had. Don’t kill the Sleeper but knock him out.

And then a new bombshell.

Eyes look over to Puck, prepared to hear his defense of what was said. She expected the defense, and even expected him to claim the accusations were false and retaliation. Everyone else’s hands were dirty except his. “Depending on the spell used, it could very easily obscure all sensation.” Was it still wrong? Well, that’s what they are here to discuss. And this was why she left the Ladder. Some things would always seem personal.

Her mind is still working out the Laws they had as Crystal moves the meeting to the public arena. Which was fine with her.

Corn as Councilor? Whatever, that was on their Path.

[Phoenyx]

The Arrow blinked. Puck seemed determined for her to be punished for a Wise course of action. "All spells possess a risk of Paradox. That the individual could have passed out from his wounds is real." She shrugged - it seemed the die was cast. His flippant rebuttal was almost insulting. "So you consider speaking Atlantean before Sleepers acceptable, and a man seen to be passing out from his wounds as worthy of punishment?" It made no sense to her. Hopefully others would see the same - there was clearly no stopping him. "You have always done as you will Councillor. I see no reason for today to be different." In the end, it didn't matter. She had taken the right course of action - the one she would do each time. If this was the consequence, then that was the way of it.

Crystal's reaction as a mite confusing as well. Hadn't she just said a trial would need to be public? Still, he had opened the discussions and the Concillium had began.

She leaned in towards Aurora. "It was the Life spell known as Trigger the Autonomic functions."

The Arrow returned to her parade rest pose. "Councillor Puck and I have discovered a Spirit in a local theatre that affects the minds of those in the building. We plan to remove it, by destroying if necessary. If anyone is interested in assisting us, contact us afterwards for details." There was no point getting bogged down here and now with it.

There was nothing else to say but wait for Puck.

[Puck]

Puck was ready to lay out his claim in greater depth until Crystal had to Crystal. Allegations of three total veil breaches were pending and what does the Councilor of the Warlocks do? Walk away. He walks away with his please-notice-me-wardrobe to call attention to himself to talk about his defunct cabal like people weren't already right there to hear about Eulogy and Guru the first time Crystal mentioned they left. The gall. The fucking stones it takes to decide to turn your back on veil breaches to engage in trivial formalities and repetition.

The Enchanter closes his eyes and takes a deep breathe in.

"Are you done preening for attention?" This guys attention is squarely on Crystal. "Regardless of the merits, Phoenyx and I both stated that magic was used in front of sleepers and the reaction of the Councilor of the Mastigos was to walk away without substantive comment to repeat what was already publicly stated about his defunct cabal. These are breaches of the veil and violations of the Precept of Secrecy being discussed. They deserve more respect then your flippant theatrics."

Puck doesn't wait for a response before returning his attention to Phoenyx and Aurora. The discussion was underway and they both had the sense to ignore Crystal's distractions. They were in the common area, everything was public and open to commentary to those who chose to do so, and if Crystal didn't understand that it was on him.

Zeromancer and Corn are similarly ignored. The paths pick the councilor and Puck and Aurora had both said so publicly at least once each. If the Moroi still hadn't gotten the message, they could sit this one out until they did.

"As for the thralls, Guru might be the best person to ask. He seemed out of it as we left the theater but not mind controlled. I also think that's a bit of a tangent. Phoenyx was able to snap two of the four of them out of the creatures mind control by threatening them. With vision and hearing they were able to be frightened out of the mind control, and I'd say that illustrated a fair degree of awareness of their surroundings and what was going on while enthralled. I'd say that's plenty to qualify as witnesses to a vulgar casting."

Puck takes another deep, forced breathe before continuing.

"The Precept of Secrecy explicitly lays out what constitutes an illegal action that breaches the veil. Even the topic of awareness only matters in determining if this was a breach worthy of a reprimand or a penance. Phoenyx has not only failed to make a legal argument or say she didn't take the action, she openly confessed to doing it and named the vulgar spell on the floor of the concilium. I used interconnections, a fate spell any initiate could utilize and a language unmentioned in the lex or tetragrammaton. Only one of these actions is a breach. While there maybe moral reasons for what was done, it is the responsibility of the council to respect and enforce the laws. Phoenyx not only failed to deny her actions, she brazenly held her own judgment above the laws we are meant to enforce. As a Councilor and the head of the Arrow, she chose not to bring these issues to the public's attention in her address, failed to deny or present any legal argument saying she didn't commit the act, and countered with an allegation divorced from the laws she is charged with reading and faithfully executing."

His attention now rests exclusively on Aurora.

"I don't believe that further deliberation is necessary. I made an accusation and Phoenyx confessed. Phoenyx made an accusation that has no basis in the Lex and thus no relief through the Tetragrammaton. I move for a minor penance in the form of community service for a period of three months. It's the minimum sentence for a first time offender with good initial intentions, but with some length to reflect the fact that it was willfully obscured from the public by a member of the concilium charged with faithfully enforcing the law."

[Corn]

Corn addressed Puck and the rest of the gathering.
" Councilor, I think the spirit of the law is more important than the letter in this case. The Precept of Secrecy is there for very good reasons and I don't think Councilor Phoenyx disagrees with that. However, there were more important issues at the time, namely a spirit and sleepers in danger. And perhaps your own safety in danger. This are, in my opinion, factors we should consider. The Obrimos Councilor didn't create a fireball that started dancing in front of sleepers. The spell may have been vulgar but a sleeper would be hard-pressed to realize what happened. As for the colors, effects or nimbus in case a sleeper noticed, Quiescence would deal with that. The Abyss protects its hold on the sleeping soul.
Furthermore, in a society as small as ours, with perhaps a dozen mages in this consilium, going out of our way to punish a mage that was protecting other mages and sleepers is worse than excessive: It is detrimental to the safety of this consilium more than a very vague and unnoticed breach of the veil.
I would rather have someone as skilled as Councilor Phoenyx, one of our most respected mages, feel comfortable to use vulgar magic to save lives, sleeper lives and awakened lives, than fight with one hand tied behind her back. There are times to throw the book on someone and there are times to commend them for NOT following the rules. The reason both awakened and sleeping societies have trials is because the situation matters, not just to verify whether the act took place.
I believe this is a case where we should give commendation to councilor Phoenyx for her actions. Sure, she used an easy-to-ignore for the sleeping mind vulgar spell... to save lives. I am sure if there were covert spells that would do the same, the councilor would have used them. But the situation demanded a different tool.


Councilor Phoenyx, on the subject of the Councilor of the Acanthus speaking in High Speech in front of sleepers... I also don't see that as an issue. If Dadouchos Aurora started talking in Aramaic or Nahuatl in the middle of a plaza, the vast majority of people would register "gibberish and weird words". The same would apply here, I think. For all the sleepers know, Councilor Puck was speaking in a bizarre language, not that he was preparing to cast a spell.

In short, in my opinion: No harm, no foul by the Councilor of the Obrimos or the councilor of the Acanthus here. I am not sure about the situation with Councilor Guru and I would like to hear more from him about what happened and why. "

[Crystal]

Maybe it was the strict adherence to the law without any nuance that they used to drive Crystal out of San Francisco, maybe it was the fact that Corn was right and they shouldn't hobble their only consistently present Arrow for trying to protect them. "I agree with Councilor Corn and am in favour for downgrading the sentence to a Minor Reprimand. Councilor Phoenyx might have acted in a way that goes against the Precept of Secrecy, but as Councilor Corn just summarized we are also here to take nuances into account. If the job of the Councilors were to be to just hand out sentences by the book there wouldn't be any need for a trial or a vote."

He didn't comment on the other things said. He didn't see a need for that.

[Aurora]

Why did she leave the Ladder?

For this reason. The bickering over Laws. How quickly others were to point out others faults and throw the Lex at them. Not that it was wrong. The Laws were there for a very damn good reason. But punishments were not set in stone. They did not have to issue a severe punishment if they felt the mage acted with the best intentions and took the only course of actions to stop things from getting out of hand. There were gray areas in the Laws that would always create discourse.

It wasn’t perfect. No one would ever agree on everything.

A quick nod, that’s what she thought the spell was, “I’ve used it a few times to, well, subdue, a target instead of causing harm.” Cause taking a nap wasn’t hurting anyone. Well, unless they were actively bleeding out, but that was a different situation.

“I’d be willing to take a look at the Spirit and see what I could do.” With her Mastery, a whole new world of spells opened up. Used correctly, it could solve their problem.

A shake of her head and a sigh, “Come on Puck.” Cause seriously, some people dealt with this bullshit differently. “The most important matter on the table is the breach, but he was also informing everyone else who was gone so they could elect a Councilor. Which is needed right now.” Might as well have all the Paths’s represented they could.

“The Laws state such breaches need to be punished. And she has admitted her fault and her line of thinking. We’ve all been there, having to make a snap decision in the heat of the moment to try and bring a situation under control and protect the world as a whole. Did she break a Law?” nodding, “Yes. But what does punishing our only Arrow do for the Consilium as a whole? It puts us all at risk. She has admitted what she did, explained why she did what she did, and to me, that is enough.” Did she want to fight about this? No. But it was how she felt.

A nod then to Corn, “He said it better than I did, and I support what he has said.” Was this going to create problems? Probably. “This is why we have trials, to hear the matter and the facts.
Decisions are based off that, not every situation is black and white.” There were gray areas.