Varis stared up at the vampire- Joryldin Nailo if he recalled- keeping his face arraigned in polite interest as he spoke. The boy must be joking. Seven article blocks to cover in a short five month period and the boy expected guidance on the political platforms of the Houses. Varis raised an eyebrow instead of scoffing like he wanted. And how does he not have a basic understanding of them? Apparently the thing was raised under a rock. A few choice words weighed heavily on his tongue but he brushed them aside.
“No, we will not. I recommend using the library and the resources of your group to curtail your arguments appropriately..” Varis turned his attention to a familiar voice, the Spellman child. Of course, what better way to interrupt his plans that have the Spellman slow him down. “You may, Mr. Spellman. If those are all the questions, we’ll continue into our first topic of the year: The Fundamental Articles. The Treaty is comprised of twenty one articles clustered into blocks based on a variety of criteria. Articles one through three are in the Fundamental block because they were the original articles the human delegates demanded complete first and establish the social structures we experience today. A change to any part of these Articles, even just the wording, would cause massive alterations in the day to day operation of our society. Both King Geoffery and Landar Starag, the heads of the Vampiric and Mortal delegations respectively, included a clause in each of these Articles that requires unanimous agreement from the Council for an amendment to any of these articles to pass into law. To date, this feat has only been accomplished once in recorded history..” As Varis spoke, he made his way over to his briefcase and shuffled inside in shortly. He stepped away from it again and gently tossed an egg up and down.
“Article one is known as the Declaration of Authority. This article does exactly what it suggests, establishing vampires as the superior race and delegates mages and humans as subservient to them. It continues on to declare the Noila family as the permanent head of state and details the process in the event of the Noila line disappearing. Interestingly enough, the human delegation demanded that none of the other Noble Houses assume the throne if tragic circumstances eradicated the Noila line. Rather, the Four noble houses would have to establish an entirely new Royal line that all four agreed would sit on the throne. The Noble houses nearly withdrew their support over the idea but lucky for everyone, a well timed werewolf attack on vampiric territory spurned them to overlook it. Almost one hundred amendments have been put forth to change the clause but neither King Geoffery nor Queen Anastasia are willing to support the measures.” Varis clicked his little clicker and the screens behind him showed seven massive books sitting side by side, the first four in glass cases. “These are every single original failed amendment organized by date. Almost five thousand pages of writing with the sole purpose of influencing the Noilas into changing the amendment. Almost every single one drafted by a member of every house, ensuring they each gave up things of equal value. And yet, the Noilas refuse to budge even to this day. I’m sure I don’t need to explain why.” He gave people a moment to consider before continuing onwards. “Furthermore, this amendment establishes the Sinnenodels, the Eves, the Astorios, and the Marivaldis as the only Noble Houses and cements their position on the Moonlight Council. It continues and establishes the Moonlight Council as the highest authority in the land and that its decisions are Law.”
“Where Article One legitimizes the ruling bodies of our society, Article Two distances humanity from Vampires. The Declaration of Immunity divides the mortal race into two different groups, Mage and Human. A Mage is anyone defined as having awoken, through either natural awakening or the Awakening ritual, to their magic potential where a human is someone who has not undergone an Awakening. This was not always the case however. Originally, Mages were considered anyone who showed magical aptitude. With little to gauge the term “Aptitude”, often times mages and humans were mistaken for one another in early years. It wasn’t until 1647 that the Awakening ritual was developed and the Council altered the wording in a unanimous decision to better clarify the difference and reduce accidental violations.” Varis paused again, letting anyone taking notes a moment to catch up before continuing again. “It also established feeding requirements, shifting the burden fully onto mages. This article took nearly two years of deliberation between the mortal and vampiric races, the longest of all the articles, specifically because of this issue. Landar Starag and Morgan le Fey, a powerful mage known as the mother of modern conjuration, demanded hunting of the human race cease immediately. It was an impossible task. With the vampiric forces stretched as they were, King Geoffeory and the Astorios who ran the military at the time would have been hard pressed to enforce such a policy. Their counter offer was a transitional period in which the hunting of humans would be restricted further and further every year until a complete ban after the war ended plus a year or ten years, whichever came first. Eventually, article two included a transitional period of five years or a year after the Lycan threat was deemed eliminated. The Lycan threat was eliminated two years later and a year after that, feeding on humans was fully banned.” Varis paused again, tossing the egg between his hands and watching people write. Once enough pens stilled, he continued pacing.
“However, Morgan le Fey felt another issue needed attention. Vampires were used to a massive herd size, used to indulging in their desires whenever they wished as long as they could catch their prey. Limiting their herd so quickly would, in Ms. Fey’s opinion, drive vampires into a frenzy of overfeeding, especially since mage blood was difficult to procure at the time. Remember, this was before most blood bottling techniques were made public and the idea of drinking blood from something other than the source was horrific and barbaric. Morgan le Fey personally penned the Guardianship clause, the part that demands a mage be directly tethered to one vampire but a vampire may have many mages..” Varis clicked his clicker, switching the screen to the massive length that was the clause. It was the longest clause outside of Article 3 and was incredibly ironclad. “Unlike Article One which suggests mages are at the mercy of all vampires, the Guardianship clause demands a mage be in the service of one and only one vampire at any given time if they are to be in the service of a vampire and establishes that only the vampire a mage is in service to may drink from that mage. Other vampires could drink from a mage given they had sufficient permission but this clause drastically reduced deaths related to overfeeding almost immediately and had all but eliminated them within two years. This clause is one of the best pieces of legal literature in existence.” Varis’s face remained rather impassive but his tone took on an almost awestruck edge as he spoke about the Guardianship clause. “Spanning three pages alone, the Guardianship clause has been torn apart time and time again by treaty scholars and it is only one of sixteen sections with no possible loopholes. It is in an of itself a piece of art and I highly recommend spending the time reading it outside of class.” He clicked the clicker again, and briefly the screen read MAJOR TEST POINT: GUARDIANSHIP CLAUSE as he made his suggestion before it flickered into the next Article.
“Now Article 3 is the longest of the three and is known as the Declaration of Atonement. It details the various punishments vampire can suffer for violating any part of Article 2 specifically. This was the only article the mortal delegation walked in with practically completed. Morgan Le Fey and Landar Starag were both adamant the punishments for failing to follow the Declaration of Immunity were harsh and severe. This Article wasn’t debated deeply because the entire mortal delegation made it clear they would walk without the proper safeguards in place and the King and the Council had little say in the matter. The bare minimum the mortal delegation would accept for harming a human without cause was defangment and public torpor. These are still the easiest punishments a vampire can receive to this day. They are displayed in their Lord or Lady’s main hall for anyone to see for about a century. If a human is fed on or killed, the vampire is to be starved to near frenzy and then caged for the next dawn. Breaking the Declaration of Immunity is considered high treason.” Varis paused again, his face blank as he considered his next point. He shouldn’t necessarily include this discussion but it was a major point, even if the Council wants it faded away and Varis was nothing if not thorough. Academic integrity… Lawful conduct… Academic integrity… Lawful conduct…. Varis shrugged mentally. He’d done worse than discuss blacklisted topics. “But that wasn’t the original demand. While technically the mage status amendment to Article One was the first recorded unanimous vote, there was one struck from the record shortly after the Treaty’s ratification. In 1293, just over two centuries prior to the Treaty, the Sinnendol family made a move to stop an ancient punishment the Originals handed down and their Children refined. A torture method known as Solaris Pius in which a vampire was locked in a special box with sliding surfaces. While closed, the vampire remained entirely in darkness but pieces could be pulled back to reveal parts of the victim to sunlight for ten seconds at a time, never long enough to kill but long enough to inflict brutal pain. Kept fed just enough to stay above torpor, the victim would often suffer this for several weeks before finally being allowed to leave. It’s one of the guaranteed ways to scar a vampire, mentally and physically. It was a popular punishment but the Sinnenodel family managed to abolish it by the early 1300 hundreds. The practice was meant to fade into the background of history but Landar Starag and Morgan le Fey rediscovered it and demanded those who violated Article Two suffered a full year of Solaris Pius before finally being allowed to die. The Council’s first move, once the treaty was ratified, was to alter that particular punishment to extended starvation rather than branding by sunlight.” Varis’s face stayed neutral as he spoke, the egg still for the duration of the discussion but he resumed tossing it as he continued on.
“Now the most interesting part of Article Three in my opinion, is the Starag Commandment. Written and repeatedly announced by the mage, The Starag Commandment is a demand that those who swear fealty to the Council and the Throne uphold specifically the punitive measures of this treaty. Realistically, the commandment has little power or authority as part of the whole but rather is a symbolic representation of the weight of the Treaty. Not a single member of the council suggested a change in the wording or recommended its removal altogether despite that it places a heavy expectation of responsibility on the shoulders of those involved. But that isn’t the interesting part of the Commandment.” He clicked again and a new series of pages popped up on screen, a large red circle superimposed on a blank space in the center of them. “That was the space the Council left Landar to write his commandment. However, he chose instead to write it on a seperate piece of parchment that is kept away from non-council members under Noila lock and key. There are no other images of the document, no scholars have permission to interact with it, only a few mages associated with the Council are permitted to maintain its integrity. Rumors have it that Landar created a powerful magical failsafe in the event the Treaty was ignored but any archivist granted the honor of seeing the document deny it.” Varis stopped pacing, still tossing the egg in the air. “Questions so far?”
Member
Morose
RPM
Blue Wolf
Scrawl Banditta
Lucid Dreaming
Kirah
teenangstlife
TokyoPewPew
