The Traditions

in Miscellanea

The European Confluxes is a varied place, with an untold number of small, eclectic societies. Even so, there is a law that they all follow known as “The Traditions”. It is upheld by the Guardian Order, tasked with maintaining the secrecy of the Confluxes and their separation from the world that mundanes inhabit.

The Traditions have their origin in countless local customs and verbal traditions, followed by witchards for untold millennia. It is not all of these that are enforced by the Guardian Order. The Codified Traditions are defined by the “Treaty of Avalon”, modified several times since it was first signed in 1490. The last time a change was made was 1894. Magio-political pressure is always mounting to redefine what is important enough to be considered the purview of the Guardian Order as defined in the treaty, since once listed, it is almost universal law in Witchard Society.

The full text of the Treaty of Avalon is long and complicated, and mired in over five hundred years of legalese. Below are the most salient points, to which all in the Confluxes must abide.

• The Tradition of Action, “You shall not practice magic openly to mundanes”
• The Tradition of the Bound, “You shall not practice the arts of Demonology, Necromancy, or Chronomancy”
• The Tradition of the Lock, “You shall have your magic sealed away if you break these Traditions”
• The Tradition of the Key, “You shall be entitled to practice magic no matter your family”
• The Tradition of Gold, “You shall not influence the mundane economy with your magic”
• The Tradition of Iron, “You shall not seek to deceive others into believing that you are a Guardian”
• The Tradition of the Whisper, “You shall allow no one to break the Traditions knowingly, lest you be punished too”

It is worth noting that only the first three Traditions (Action, the Bound, the Lock) were originally codified in the Treaty of Avalon in 1490. The next two Traditions (the Key, Gold) were introduced by the Sans-Noms Revolutionaries following their victory which resulted in the signing of the Peace of Phalsbourg in 1801. The last two Traditions (Iron, the Whisper) were only introduced in 1894 with the signing of the Treaty of the Iron Key.

Most breaches of the Traditions are settled by local conflux authorities. Almost all legitimate conflux authorities have at least one sworn Guardian. The severity of local law depends entirely on the temperament of the conflux in question. Some local courts are surprisingly soft on violators, while others are draconian beyond belief. What is true of most of them is that they do not want members of the Guardian Order with no relation to the community telling them what to do–foreign Guardians are rarely welcome guests in a conflux.

At the signing of the Peace of Phalsbourg, the idea of “ensorcelled” mundanes was discussed. Children, spouses, parents and other such individuals who would be allowed to be exempt from the first Tradition. This did not make it into the signing of the Peace of Phalsbourg, but is nonetheless considered a quasi-law by many of the more free-minded confluxes, where such individuals are consequently allowed a peek into the magical world. There are other examples of such “half-enforcement” of Traditions – for example, with special Guardian oversight, careful study into Demonology, Necromancy, and Chronomancy is indeed permitted within certain parameters.