Rules TroscadHello, this is Ivan the Impossible. I normally don't waste my time with the Internet, but I am compelled to relate the following story, as it involves a new development concerning us all.
In April, a boggan friend of mine, Ralph Monchad, died from pursuing a troscad against Baron Artur of Newberry, SC. I had been away for the past few months, and was unaware of this martyrdom until I returned, too late to make a difference. Another friend of mine possessed a book which Ralph had left to me, with a passage marked. The book was "The Druids," by a Peter Berresford Ellis. Page 141 was marked, detailing the following:
"Another method of exerting authority, available to all members of Celtic society, was the ritual fast - the troscad. As a legal form of redressing a grievance, this act emerged in the Brehon law system...
"Dr. Joyce saw the troscad as 'identical with the eastern custom, and no doubt it was believed in pagan times to be attended by similar supernatural effects'; that is, that if the one fasted against ignores the person fasting then they would suffer fearful supernatural penalties. The troscad was the means of compelling justice and establishing one's rights. Under law, the person wishing to compel justice had to notify the person they were complaining against and then would sit before their door and remain without food until the wrongdoer accepted the administration or arbitration of justice. 'He who disregards the faster shall not be dealt with by God nor man . . . he forfeits his legal rights to anything according to the decision of the Brehon.'
The book goes on to say that this tradition has continued with the Irish hunger strikes, and such even inspired Mahatma Gandi to revive the similar ancient custom of dharna in India.
Apparently, Ralph decided this would work especially against the sidhe authority, since their roots come from the Tuatha. Artur, a Sidhe Eiluned Childling, had recently been given the title of Baron after I executed his predecessor, known as "Lord Mayor," for crimes against the Dreaming. Unfortunately, I had to leave soon after to draw away an assassination attempt upon myself and all my friends as a result of the execution. Artur apparently has continued in the way of Lord Mayor, and Ralph, unable to fight as I, found out about and decided upon a troscad as his course of action.
Artur, of course, refused to acknowledge Ralph as having any claim, and, I have been told, even laughed to his face. Others, however, noted that Artur seemed to have trouble concentrating on many lesser tasks and studies. Since Ralph's death, it is said by all but Artur that he is depressed.
The reason I bring all this to your attention is to let those who cannot fight know that you do have another option - I will continue to fight as always, but the empowerment of the troscad may help bring the sidhe to justice. Alicia, a friend of mine with considerable mystical powers, informs me that the Dreaming did indeed take notice of the troscad and is punishing Artur even now. When I asked another friend of mine, a sluagh by the moniker of Nightshade, what might have happened to Ralph's faerie spirit, she smiled and said that we have not likely seen the last of him.
Also, a warning to House Eiluned in general - I know Lord Mayor was of your house. I know one of you has hired an assassin by the name of "Achmed the Snake" to pursue all I hold dear. I have defeated the black ones Achmed sent against me - you should fear that I did, as Alicia has told me these were bastardized wizards, maybe even Hidden Ones. That you should consort with such is alone enough reason for me to kill you. I am tracking Achmed now. I will find him, and I will find you - remember, Lord Mayor could not escape me even through many alternate paths of the Dreaming. You have one chance, and one chance only, to escape my wrath. Come to me, each one of you who are involved, confess your crimes to me and to the Dreaming by oath, and subjugate yourself to my sentence. I have spoken, and this will be so.
I did find this interesting tidbit in reading "The Druids," and just knew I had to share it, especially considering the war that's going on now in Changeling.
My system for the Troscad is to view it as an oath. A Troscad may only be placed against one's superior who initiated an injustice against the inferior - in the opposite order of rank given with the Sovereign art.
The person initiating a Troscad has to go to the accused and state his/her grievance(s), then sit at his/her doorstep. A point of willpower must be spent by the accuser to bind the Troscad. From that point on, due to the power of the oath, the accuser can not move nor be moved from the doorstep, and can not eat any food, although he may accept water or other natural juices to drink. Because of this, a Troscad must never be entered lightly - the accuser could well die. On the flip side, the power of the Troscad is enough to sustain the accuser's will throughout, so that he/she cannot be tempted to end it.
Only the accused may end a Troscad, by the acceptance of arbitration or the administration of justice. Note that arbitration is a little more difficult than it sounds, as both parties must accept the authority of the arbitrator. So long as the Troscad continues, the accused suffers a one-die penalty in all actions. Note that sidhe are likely to drop into their Unseelie legacies as a matter of course (due to their kith Frailty), so the Troscad can be especially effective (and have collateral consequences) against them. However, beginning a Troscad brings the accuser to his/her Seelie legacy.
If the accused allows the accuser to die from starvation as a result of a Troscad (a process which can take up to 70 some-odd days), he/she gains a point of temporary Banality. This Banality gain cannot be counteracted by spending temporary Glamour; nor can it be accepted as a Nightmare Die. The accuser's fae spirit is also likely to hang around for a time, becoming like a Bean Sidhe haunting the accused - roll one die: if it's less than the accuser's Willpower, the fae spirit remains until the wrong is redressed or the spirit is dispatched.
If the accused tries to attack the accuser, he/she must make a Willpower roll against a difficulty 6 to do so. If successful and the accuser dies (chimerically or mortally), the attacker gains banality both for the killing and ending the Troscad. If the accuser was mortally killed, his/her fae spirit definitely sticks around. Of course, if the accuser suffered Fae Death, there is no spirit left.
Another party could kill the accuser, in which case no one suffers the banality of the Troscad, although the accuser's fae spirit sticks around even so.
(I hope this covered all the possibilities for us rules lawyers.)
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