I'm asking about late in the timeline, Childe Morgan and Kelson.
I distinctly remember them ordering murders in Childe Morgan (if you're not important, like Charissa or Wencit). And ordering the immediate marriage of a daughter of Lewys ap Norfal. In the original trilogy, they oversee a duel arcane. Do they do anything else as a Council? Do they help Deryni escape persecution? Do they help train young Deryni?
Oh I have a lot to say about the Camberian Council. At one point in time yes they did help Deryni escape persecution. The enter baptizer movement was started by the CC. Many Deryni were blocked and saved because of it. But that was back in the Heirs of Saint Camber days.
There are hints that the CC was responsible for training Deryni. In the short story of Bethane we get the impression that Darrell and Lord Barrett are both CC members and train young Deryni.
Later we hear Tercell, while training Conal, talk about the difficulties of training children.
Additionally of course, they determine what magic can or cannot be done. Limiting experimentation and advancing the arcane arts. Stifling creativity and betterment of both the human and Deryni condition.
Checking for someone else, I looked into
The King's Justice, prologue. It's that rather fractious Camberian Council meeting with lots of expository lumps.
QuoteAny boy-king might have fostered uneasiness among those designated to advise him---and despite the fact that few outside the room even knew of its existence, the Camberian Council considered itself so designated for the House of Haldane.
If "few outside the room even knew of its existence", how do they regulate and control the Deryni? How do you give someone a warning, or education, if you have to start by giving a 5-minute lecture on the history of Deryni regulation since Camber?
Recall that at that time in Gwynedd's history. Alaric Morgan was the only Public Deryni in the kingdom. and his Deryni mother died when he was only 4 years old. So he would not have been told about the CC. Lady Vera his aunt might not have known about the CC either as she was raised by a human family and only taught the Arcane when she was older.
I consider it most likely at every Deryni family that retained the knowledge of magic, also retained the knowledge of the CC, but it would never have been spoken aloud. only in Rapport and only with the mature members of each family. Censure from the CC would likely have been given to the highest member of the family that required Censuring, and that person either took care of the problem before it became a matter for the CC to take punishment into their own hands.
Michon De Courcy spoke to the abbess who was the Prince's aunt to Censure the Torenthi Prince from doing the arcane experiments that he was attempting. She refused to stop the prince and we all learned how arcane experiments can go wildly wrong.
Quote from: tmcd on March 10, 2025, 01:20:37 AMChecking for someone else, I looked into The King's Justice, prologue. It's that rather fractious Camberian Council meeting with lots of expository lumps.
QuoteAny boy-king might have fostered uneasiness among those designated to advise him---and despite the fact that few outside the room even knew of its existence, the Camberian Council considered itself so designated for the House of Haldane.
If "few outside the room even knew of its existence", how do they regulate and control the Deryni? How do you give someone a warning, or education, if you have to start by giving a 5-minute lecture on the history of Deryni regulation since Camber?
I think the few who might have known or suspected the Council's existence would have been primarily or exclusively Deryni, who are a tiny minority of the overall population of the Eleven Kingdoms. And while the Council's existence as a group might be unknown to many Deryni, certainly individual members on it would be known to others and might provide training, etc. on behalf of or at the request of the Council with the recipient being none the wiser of the entire group unless the Council decided that individual was trustworthy enough to be brought in on the secret. Deryni rulers and high lords would likely have been aware of them, or at least have heard rumors of them, given the tendency of Deryni to try to find other Deryni to marry if possible, and also the tendency of aristocrats (including Deryni ones) to marry within their own class. Given that there would have been fewer aristocratic Deryni families in Gwynedd to marry into with each passing year, many who were stripped of lands and escaping persecution likely married into Deryni families from other kingdoms if they could, spreading their knowledge of a secret Council's existence outside of Gwynedd, so that by Kelson's day more of the CC members are from outside Gwynedd than within it. But if Deryni make up only 1% or so of the general population, and only half of those people even suspect the Council exists, they can still exert a lot of influence if the ones who happen to be the most likely to know about them and receive special training or censure also happen to be the few Deryni left in positions where they can influence others.
High Deryni, ch, 22, first ed. pb. p. 289 bottom, Arilan infodumps:
Quote"As you know, Bob, As you are aware, very few Deryni have had the opportunity to fully develop their powers in recent times. Many of our talents were lost in the persecutions---or at least out knowledge of how to use those powers was lost. Morgan's gift of healing may be a rediscovery of one of those lost talents. But there are some of us who are loosely organized and in regular communication with one another. The Council acts as a regulating body for those known Deryni, keeping the old laws and arbitrating in matters of magic such as may arise from time to time.
O.K., so the "few outside the room" is just the small number of known fully functioning Deryni in Gwynedd.
Quote from: tmcd on March 10, 2025, 03:15:13 PMHigh Deryni, ch, 22, first ed. pb. p. 289 bottom, Arilan infodumps:
Quote"As you know, Bob, As you are aware, very few Deryni have had the opportunity to fully develop their powers in recent times. Many of our talents were lost in the persecutions---or at least out knowledge of how to use those powers was lost. Morgan's gift of healing may be a rediscovery of one of those lost talents. But there are some of us who are loosely organized and in regular communication with one another. The Council acts as a regulating body for those known Deryni, keeping the old laws and arbitrating in matters of magic such as may arise from time to time.
O.K., so the "few outside the room" is just the small number of known fully functioning Deryni in Gwynedd.
Snorks and chokes on the "as you know, Bob" comment