Marcus Cantii Thomae Vero amicoque sodali suo salutem dicit

Further to your request for information on the Tribunal of Loch Leglean, I have compiled the following, from what I know of the politics north of the Wall of Hadrian. I can say honestly that I envy you not in your placement, especially used, as you are, to the subtle machinations of the Roman Tribunal. In contrast to the civilised continent, Scotland is a wild and untamed land, and the members of the Order that dwell there match their land perfectly. As a visitor to the Loch Leglean Tribunal, even coming from the Stonehenge Tribunal, which is considered untamed by most of the Order, I was shocked by the activities that go on up there, unpunished by the Hermetic authorities. The most notable of these is the habit of Scotian Magi to be heavily involved in mortal politics. It is rumoured that this tribunal have destroyed and raised kings, and were left untouched by the quaesitores. It is also said that the covenants make war on each other, raiding each other’s covenants for vis, livestock, or just out of mean-spirited jealousy. This is not a place for Magi used to the universities of southern Europe, or the Hermetic Courts of the Rhine. The roster of covenants changes regularly, with many covenants being temporary arrangements between formerly solitary magi; and there is often half a dozen new covenants at every tribunal meeting, with an equal number lost.

Three covenants stand out from the others. The home covenant of the Gruagach, MacGruagach, is the wildest of all the covenants. Located in the Highlands, the pictish wizards who dwell there make frequent raids on the neighbouring homesteads and hamlets. The domus praecipua of the Tribunal is Crun Clach, in the Lowlands. Ruled by a Merinita famed for her sexual appetite, this is the moderating force of the tribunal, standing between the Highlands and the Borders. Horsingas is located in Northumbria, north of Hadrian’s Wall. They are perhaps the fiercest Magi in the Order, bitterly resenting the lust for Northumbria by the English king, and despising the Normans who have defeated their Saxon kinsmen south of the Wall.

Well over half of the Magi in the Loch Leglean Tribunal are little better than Hedge Magicians - the gruagachan cannot even use Hermetic Magic, for the love of God! Furthermore, a quarter do not reside in covenants, either staying out of the fighting, hiring themselves out to covenants, or attacking when they know a covenant is busy elsewhere. My advice to you is to join a covenant which is too weak to pose a threat to any of these three powers. Perform your duties with the diligence of Bélin, and show no bias or loyalty to either of the three camps. If this is done, you may survive your seven years of duty.

fac valeas, semper tua serva maneo Marcus Cantii, MCCCLXXX A.P.