Rhine Tribunal

The Rhine Tribunal is the larger setting of our campaign; ancient and established, it covers the geographic area of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Tribunal meets every seven years in an assembly also known, confusingly, as the Tribunal. The latest meeting was in 1221; the next is scheduled for 1227, as a prelude to the Grand Tribunal in 1228.

Covenants in the Rhine are largely independent. The Tribunal offers material support in the form of subsidia, awarded in exchange for project assignments at Tribunal meetings, and communication via the Redcaps. It also attempts to enforce Hermetic discipline via the Quasitores.

Politically, the Rhine is ruled by a coalition centered on Bonisagus, with the Quasitores and Mercare supporting them. They are challenged, often successfully, by Tytalus; with the large population of Merinita often acting as middleman. Other houses may shift back and forth depending on circumstances, or lack the political unity needed to vote as a bloc.

The politics of the Rhine is traditionally concerned with Vis distribution; the Tribunal collects Vis for legal violations, and distributes it by subsidia. This system has taken two severe shocks in recent years- the Tytalus legal reform bill of 1221, which allowed guilty mages to appeal penalties to their House leaders, and the Vis Crisis of 1225, in which the Tribunal's Vis stores were discovered to be depleted. It is unclear how the Tribunal will meet this problem, or what new form Hermetic politics may take in its aftermath.