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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Malacat" data-source="post: 1186605" data-attributes="member: 14528">Tsaran stood again, his manner subtly different from before.  “I would like to address the comments several of you have made concerning allowing our Prime to be selected by certámen.  I may, perhaps be able to speak on the matter with some authority.  Not only do I have a strong interest in certámen, but among the Tremere, it is the only approved method of selecting a Prime.  My experience suggests that it is an excellent method of establishing a community in which hatred festers and the ruler is feared by all and respected by none.  Certámen has its place, and it is a valuable place, but it is not appropriate for settling important disputes among friends.    “I have two fathers.  My mundane father, Lord Volakula, is very conservative, and he taught me to be conservative like him.  The new fashion of turning free people who have trusted your family for centuries into serfs or slaves is not to his taste nor to mine.  My second father, who still holds my sigil, runs his covenant to the new fashion, treating all beneath him with contempt.  The idea of presenting himself to his people and asking if they will have him as their leader is a joke to him.”    As I listened to his accented words, I found my eye shifting back to the fey beauty of Fionuala Fitzgerald.  I had written that the two were equally exotic, but already Tsaran’s features seemed less so.  His veins might hold the blood of a minor family in far-off Serbia, but hers held the blood of the eternal ones in Arcadia.  In another day or two, I was sure, I would be accustomed to Tsaran Volakula, but the gold-haired filia of Maelgwn would seem exotic to me forever.  As these thoughts crossed my mind, my gaze returned to Tsaran.  He could not have known what I was thinking, but I saw a glint of humor in his eyes for a moment as they met mine, and he paused a moment before continuing.    “I would prefer that we choose our leader by acclamation or by vote.  I would rather live among friends than in an autocracy.  I will also suggest that we consider a seven-year term, so that each election includes being Primus for exactly one tribunal.  I like Matteo’s suggestion concerning the Vice-Primus, but I do not like the idea of being unable to re-elect a Primus as the following Vice-Primus.  I would prefer that it take a supermajority, rather than a majority, to re-elect the Primus to Vice-Primus, but that it be possible for us to keep a Primus virtually all of us wish to keep on.  If we included this rule, I would not oppose stipulating that such a re-election could not happen more than once before the Primus does step down.    “The positions of librarian and vis-keeper seem sensible to me, as do the others Matteo proposes.  I propose we also keep a certámen champion, to settle challenges from other covenants, to issue it to others at the request of the council, or perhaps of the Prime, and to train others of our covenant in certámen should they wish to be trained.  As I must defeat the best practitioner of certámen I have ever seen in order to gain my sigil, I intend to become the best in the Order.  This will take me some time, but I tell you this now to be clear that the position I propose is one I mean to be qualified to fill myself.  I will also argue that this position, and only this position, should be selected by certámen, to ensure that our champion is our best.  If this means Matteo is best suited for it now, or if someone else is who has not yet expressed an interest in certámen, then the position should go to that person.  I will hold no malice, but I will continue to practice — either way, and whether or not we have such a position.”    He bowed to Matteo.    “And I accept your offer of a sparring partner gladly, sir.  Thank you.”    “To the question of new members joining, I think the all-but-one vote is reasonable.  There are Tremeres with whom I will not willingly share a meal again, let along a covenant, but if such should seek to join us, I will speak my opinion before I vote against them, and trust the judgement of my peers.  Likewise with expelling a member or unseating the Prime — if all but one choose to support such an action, let it be done.  And I find myself in agreement with Matteo in much of the rest of his internal suggestions.“I have no strong views on our name.  Any of the names proposed would sit well with me.“As to service, I agree that we should all contribute in large amounts in the early years of our covenant, and that similar initial requirements of new members would be fair.  I would like to be more clear on what does and does not constitute service, so that no one feels that they are carrying a burden that is either heavier or lighter than anyone else, but this is a detail that need not necessarily be in our charter.    "I also suggest that we put considerable effort into making our covenant as comfortable as possible, not because I seek comfort for its own sake, but because of my interest in longevity.  The more comfortable our home, particularly in the wintertime, the easier it is for us to resist the onslaughts of age.    “My next suggestion I’d thought would perhaps be more controversial.  The master of my old covenant was able to use his laboratory to great effect because he required lesser members of the covenant to help him in his laboratory.  It is an advantage I am loath to give up, and yet among equals it is difficult to arrange this sort of cooperation.  I had meant to propose that we include in our covenant a common laboratory as well as our individual ones, and that we agree to cooperate in the common laboratory on projects approved by the council or the Prime.  Matteo’s proposal that we not have individual laboratories sits well enough with me if no one else objects.”    He smiled at me again.    “But the issue that concerns our hosts more directly is what we make of their terms.  I have some thoughts on the matter.    “We are to be a vassel covenant, and Lemannus is being most generous with its terms so far as helping us to begin is concerned.  However, it is considered traditional — and I am tradition-minded — for a leige to owe protection to the vassel in exchange for ongoing obedience and tribute.  Their conditions to me seem rather one-sided after the covenant has founded, which may form part of the basis of some of the comments we have heard.    “I suggest two additional clauses.  One is that in the event our covenant is hard-pressed by a third covenant and appeals to Lemannus for aid in defending itself, and if Lemannus is unable or unwilling to prevent the third covenant from overwhelming us, we are, on our surrender to the third covenant, released of our obligations to Lemannus.  As a new covenant on our own, we may be easy prey to other established covenants, and I am of a mind to pay tribute to one liege at a time.  This places no obligation on them to protect us, so it binds them little, but it permits us to negotiate for our lives should they choose not to respond to our cry.    “The second clause would bind us more closely together.  I propose that we request the right to nominate one of our number to Lemannus after seven years, and that this magus be permitted to join Lemannus as an established, voting member rather than as a new member, while remaining also a member of our covenant, with their service to us being that they serve in Lemannus.  At the end of seven years, this magus would either return to us or leave our number entirely to become a member of Lemannus, but in either case we would then elect a new representative to Lemannus.” “I think these terms are fair, and that they will not insult our hosts, which I have no desire to do.    “To the matter of the ownership of books and vis, I have no great supply of either, but members who do have their own should not, to my thinking, be obliged to give all into the covenant’s possession.  Copying one's books for the covenant library should, I think count toward service.“And finally, Polybius, I agree to your request, for so long as you and I are both members of this covenant.”And with that, he sat.</blockquote>

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