En depósitos de dinero a la vista en Bancos;

Unless resolved earlier, the prosecution of Trajan occurs at the next Tribunal under the usual rules for that Tribunal. This may be several years away. Unless magi offering support lie, the principals should have a good idea whether the Tribunal votes in their favor prior to the meeting. Trajan and Siegfried both attend the Tribu- nal to argue their respective cases, and if the Tribunal appears to be split both are confident of swing- ing enough support through tes- timony and argument. Obviously, Trajan’s familiar Cattus does not attend; she is confined to the river.

If Siegfried cannot prosecute the case then a local second (per- haps a player character) will pres- ent his case for him.

WhAt hermetic crimes hAs trAjAn committeD?

Siegfried (or his proxies) accuse Trajan of dangerously interfering in

the mundane by destroying towns and drowning hundreds of mun- danes. At face value this is a High Crime. However, as the mundanes do not associate this devastation with Hermetic magi (unless this has changed during play), it may be questionable whether Trajan’s interference has really resulted in “ruin to his sodales.”

The excessive mundane deaths may be a factor in the Tribunal’s decision. If Trajan’s actions have damaged covenant property, vis sources, or other magical resources, then Siegfried also (or instead) ac- cuses Trajan of deprivation of magi- cal power.

Trajan claims he is the river guardian, and that this excuses both his intended actions and any collateral damage.

if trAjAnis founD guilty

If Trajan is found guilty he could be fined, Marched, or the Tribunal might decide to impose some other penalty, such as labor, or the execution of his beloved fa- miliar, Cattus.

Trajan pays any reasonable vis fine (although he needs to re- turn to the Rhine Tribunal or the Danube to collect it). Usually, he would be granted time until the next Tribunal to pay the fine.

Trajan likewise completes any reasonable labor fine.

If Trajan is Marched, or if he is asked to give up Cattus, then he immediately attempts to use his

Return to the Flow spell to return to

the Danube. Once at the Danube he — with Cattus — hides along

the river until he can escape back to the Rhine Tribunal.

This escape strategy is not infallible. For example, very quick characters may be able to disrupt Trajan’s Return to the Flow spell, or

forward thinking characters may have acquired Arcane Connections to Trajan, which might allow Trajan to be followed (or killed from Arcane Connection Range). The player characters may also search for Trajan’s hiding place and confront him there.

Siegfried, flush with success, tries to gather support for the Tribunal to appeal and thus over-rule the Rhine Tribunal’s Guardians of the Forests ruling at the Grand Tribunal. If Trajan has been Marched, and especially if he has then escaped, there could be considerable support for this idea. However, if Trajan has only been fined, then the Tribunal is probably reluctant to challenge the Rhine Tribunal in this way. if trAjAnis founD innocent

If Trajan is found innocent, this Tribunal has effectively imported the Rhine Forest Guardians ruling by creating a similar ruling (per- taining to rivers) in this Tribunal’s Peripheral Code. Whether this precedent can be effectively used by other characters may be the ba- sis of future stories.

If the player characters helped Trajan they earn the enmity of Siegfried, and Trajan is grateful to them afterward.

Disgruntled by proceedings,

supporters to help him appeal the Tribunal’s — and the original Rhine rulings — to the Grand Tribunal. If the player characters Siegfried’s al- lies, they might try to help him.

If Siegfried, or his allies, have been discovered to have informed the mundane authorities about Tra- jan’s role in the devastating floods, then Siegfried might be found guilty

of interfering with the mundanes, rather than Trajan.

Further Tales

Further stories involving the Rhine Tribunal include:

• If Trajan has testified to a re- gio linking the Danube and another river in the Tribunal as part of his legal defense, then the existence of this regio be- comes common knowledge in the Tribunal. If the player characters can locate it (which should not be difficult if Tra- jan’s testimony is accurate), they can use the regio to easily travel to the Rhine Tribunal. Closer links between the two Tribunals may lead to conflict between the respective politi- cal structures.

• If he survives, Siegfried tries to make a case for the Grand Tri- bunal to suppress the Rhine’s Guardians of the Forests rul- ing, supported by either his failure or success in prosecuting Trajan. The player characters might try to assist or hinder

• If Trajan is Marched, but escapes immediate death, then Siegfried assembles a team of hoplites to hunt Trajan down, and the player characters may be re- cruited. The assassination team may need to travel to the Rhine Tribunal to find Trajan’s trail. • The magi may have accepted

the offer of resources from ei- ther Siegfried’s or Trajan’s Rhine allies as payment for their help. They need to travel to the Rhine to collect these debts. • If the player characters have

become close to Trajan (and he survives) he might try to re- cruit them as fellow minions of the river spirit. They can gain power from this, but need to perform quests for the river. • If Trajan is killed, Danibus may

have the power (and inclina- tion) to raise him as a ghost. Tra- jan might thus continue to serve the river after death, and his ghost may need to be destroyed by the player characters.

• The player characters may ac- quire enemies or allies in the Rhine as a result of the case. • If Trajan is found innocent, the

player characters (or others) may try to use the new prec- edent to declare themselves guardians of natural features within the Tribunal.

• If Trajan is found innocent (or only fined vis or labor) he continues in the coming years to clear the banks of the Dan- ube of human habitation. This may led to conflict with the player characters and more