Well, as it turned out, I didn't need the combat cheat sheet. The PCs deftly averted bloodshed. Now, where to go from here? Any input is appreciated.
At my last session, the magi attended the wedding of Gisella, the female cousin of Duke Isnardo of Genoa, to Pietro Visconti, the Marquis of Pisa. This wedding would have put to rest a generation of fighting between the two noble houses. And the long contested ownership of the island of Corsica would finally have become moot, since the two contested rulers would have merged into one family.
Except that when the groom saw, for the first time, the bride's cousin, the Duke of Genoa and Corsica, the Marquis of Pisa recognized him for who he truly was, via his twin-tuition:
Though their mother died in childbirth, the father of the Marquis had told the Marquis the truth on his deathbed: the Marquis was born conjoined to his twin by a band of flesh at the shoulder blade. The babies were to be killed since neither was suitable to inherit the March in this condition. But a gypsy woman arrived one night and promised to separate the twins so one could rule. Her price: the other twin!
When the Duke heard this, he was aghast. He looked to his "mother" in the congregation and her ashamed expression revealed that the story they had told him for as long as he could remember, that he had burned the back of his shoulder blade on a hot hearthstone as a toddler, was a lie! He was not a member of the ruling family of Genoa, he was born of the ruling family of Pisa!
The clash of swords between the two houses almost rang out that day instead of wedding bells, but thanks to the Magi of Riacciu Carmenta Covenant, bloodshed was averted. However, the Duke of Genoa, while agreeing to retain his title, allowed the wedding to continue so that he could have both, his noble title, and his newfound twin brother. As an act of good will to his new family, he turned the rulership of Corsica over to Pisa.
Now this might sound like a good thing. And indeed, in the short-term, it was, for the characters and for the players. They managed to avert bloodshed and allow a peaceful transition of power in Corsica.
However, certain aggrieved parties, and I have yet to figure out who they are, probably complained about this transfer of power of Corsica from Genoa to Pisa. And through various channels, that complaint eventually reached the ears of the hierarchy of the Order of Hermes.
The Mages directly influenced this transfer of power. This is a potential severe violation of the Code of Hermes, which forbids meddling in mundane affairs. The transfer of an entire Island from one warring family to the opponent family is just the kind of meddling the code is meant to prohibit.
At the next session, in two weeks, I am bringing a special guest to play a Quaesitor sent to investigate the magi's role in this and sort things out. Did they overstep their bounds?
The Mages will argue that their actions spared lives by averting war between these two noble houses, and therefore prevented much bloodshed. They may also argue that politically nothing really changed, since the two Noble houses merged anyway from the marriage.
And they would be right about that. However, technically, the fact that mundane lives were saved is relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of the Code of Hermes, which is meant to protect the Mages of the Order, regardless of the lives and interests of mundanes. Depending on how important the complaining party is, the Quaesitor may not be persuaded by the arguments of the player characters, regardless of how valid they may be.
The decision can go either way, so really it will boil down to whether it is determined that these Mages of this fledgling Covenant in Corsica pose any other threats, and if so, then this transfer-of-power issue can be used as an excuse to quash their efforts and indeed their entire Covenant.
So, I must now consider what other concerns might the powers-that-be have about this little fledgling Covenant that the Quaesitor could be looking into. In other words, why is he really there investigating?
I think the main issue is that this fledgling Covenant is being constructed within the geographical boundaries of the Roman tribunal, yet the intention the mother Covenant who sent these young Wizards out to build this Covenant, intended this fledgling Covenant to be a branch of their own Covenant, or a sister Covenant, and therefore an extension of a covenant that lies within the Provençal Tribunal, in the French Alps. Really, this is a simple issue, since there really is no such thing under the Code as a "sister Covenant" or a "branch," and therefore this New Covenant is simply part of the Roman Tribunal. But I feel like this issue can somehow get more complicated, I just haven't figured out the specifics yet.
As always, any input is greatly appreciated.
