Interdiction
Overview
The Conclave may censor specific rituals, items, or materials that represent a significant magical danger to the Empire. In the case of rituals, interdiction does not prevent anyone knowing the ritual, nor remove it from Imperial lore - but performing the ritual (or using ritual magic to produce the magical effect that that ritual creates) becomes illegal.
Declaration
The specific ritual, item, or material must be explicitly named in the declaration. A declaration of interdiction involving an item or material may specify that rather than being destroyed, it should be placed out of reach. This is usually done when an interdiction is intended to be temporary (as with the Imperial Crown, for example).
Resolution
If a ritual is interdicted, it is illegal to perform that ritual. It is not illegal to master the ritual, nor to possess a ritual text containing the named ritual. The specific effect created by the ritual is interdicted - using an arcane projection to substantially duplicate a ritual that is subject to interdiction is considered the same as performing the illegal magic.
For magic items and materials, it is illegal to use or possess the interdicted items or materials. It is the legal responsibility of ever Imperial citizen to hand them in promptly to the civil service to be destroyed or placed out of reach, as appropriate. An object placed out of reach is not made available to anyone - it does not become the property of the Conclave and cannot be the target of a declaration of dissemination, for example. If the declaration of interdiction is later reversed, an item that has been placed out of reach will be returned to the owner at the time the interdiction was placed. If that owner is not available, the civil service will do their best to return the item to an appropriate citizen as part of the original owner's estate.
Interdiction by its nature covers all uses of a ritual. There have been a handful of specific interdictions alowed, related to preventing damage to the Imperial regio. Such damage has massive implications for both the Conclave and the entire Empire, but should not be taken as establishing a broader precedent. Interdiction of other rituals used in specific ways is very unlikely to pass scrutiny by the Constitutional Court.
Interdicted Items
The Conclave has interdicted the following as of the start of Autumn Equinox 384YE.
| Item | Nature | Name of Declarer | Date |
| Wind of Mundane Silence on the Imperial Regio | Ritual | Bacauda Netherwatch | Summer 384YE |
| Chastise the Foolish | Ritual | Rafael Barossa di Tasssato | Summer 384YE |
| The Certainty of Doubt | Ritual | Rafael Barossa di Tasssato | Summer 384YE |
| Almery of Silence | Magic Item | Bacauda Netherwatch | Spring 384YE |
| Shackle of the Unvirtuous | Magic Item | Brother Martin | Winter 383YE |
| Golden Hare Icon of Irra Harah | Item | Ingar Ironbreaker | Autumn 383YE |
| The Celestial Library | Ritual | Skywise Gralka | Winter 382YE |
| Recipe of the Two-Bladed Knife (refers to Double-sided Blade) | Potion | Ingar Ironbreaker | Autumn 382YE |
| Potion of Oakenshield (refers to Weakening Sun) | Potion | Ingar Ironbreaker | Autumn 382YE |
| All items called the Hungry Key. | Magic item | Abel | Autumn 382YE |
| Rivers Run Red | Ritual | Alcuin Shatterspire | Autumn 381YE |
| Mountain Remembers Its Youth | Ritual | Helios Bitter Chalice | Autumn 381YE |
| Vallorn seeds | Item | ? | ? |
| Align the Celestial Net on the Imperial Regio | Ritual | ? | Historical |
Declaration of Reconciliation
The Conclave may remove or modify a ban placed by the declaration of interdiction with a declaration of reconciliation.
Remorse
In recent times, people have queried if a ritual might be removed from Imperial lore. In theory there is no legal mechanism by which such a thing might be accomplished, but Harry Archer, an enterprising thresher from Mitwold recently proposed an option. The Imperial Conclave could interdict a ritual text - and they could give instruction for the thing they interdict to be destroyed. This declaration is usually applied to an item - or a small class of items - but Harry points out that in theory the Conclave might choose to interdict every single known copy of a ritual text - giving orders for them to be destroyed. If that were done - then the effect would be identical to if the ritual had never been added to lore.
While there is no fundamental constitutional bar to this approach, it is not consistent with the current law. While interdicted magic items or materials should be handed in promptly to the civil service this explicitly does not apply to interdicted rituals, which are simply illegal to perform. Magistrates advised that a change to the law (requiring the intervention of the Imperial Senate) would be required to create a new Conclave power to accomplish this. They warn that it would be expensive - they calculate it would cost 25 thrones per named ritual to seek out and destroy every copy of each of those ritual texts in the Empire. It has been impishly suggested that this power could be called a Declaration of Remorse.
Further Reading
Core Brief
Additional Information
- Conclave vault
- Key Appointments to the Imperial Conclave