They're 'protections' using the legalistic definition , as the Accords are the supernatural equivalent of an international treaty. Just like I have the protection of the law to prevent theft it doesn't physically prevent you from jacking my S&%T it just gives me a legal recourse for seeking satisfaction (which may or may not actually be satisfying but is used here as a synonym of justice albeit with different connotations).

Furthermore you missed a few, The ability to negotiate under a declared flag of truce, the ability demanded a Weregild, and although it's not specifically stated one could infer that much like large international treaties when a signatory violates them the other nations could impose sanctions.

The domain of Skudl

Thanks for that Rephath, I shall be adapting the Huntsman for my next session, the PCs are headed to the sunken city of Cantre’r Gwaelod to deliver a package and I wanted a couple of scenes to highlight the oddness of the NeverNever, an encounter with an aquatic version of the Huntsman will do rather nicely as he and his sharks hunt the great white whale.

A couple of clarification questions first.

1) Do the Characters know what the book is about?

2) Do the PCs know what they're dealing with?

3) How did they acquire it?

I ask because, firstly the Law states: Never seek knowledge and power from beyond the outer gates. I add the emphasis for this reason. Hypothetically my Ex-Warden grandfather dies and I inherit a bunch of his books... in the collection is a undeciphered tome upon the outer gates. I haven't sought the knowledge, nor do I truely HAVE the knowledge. I'd say just possessing the tome doesn't mechanically violate the Law. The white council might still lop my head off... just in case... I mean we are talking the outer gates here, better safe than sorry. But no Lawbreaker stunt. If I start translating the tome, at somepoint very early it should be apparent what I'm dealing with, at this point I'd say there's a choice, keep going and become a Lawbreaker mechanically and in the eyes of the Wardens. However if I stop at that point I'd say no Lawbreaker stunt, the white councils feelings however may vary.

Now if they know what the Tome is and sought it out with intention of acquiring it for that knowledge... Lawbreaker
If they know what the Tome is and sought it out with intention of destroying it I'd say they're doing the wardens job. Those are the... flavor reasons why I'd say... it depends.

Metagame; if your PCs don't know what they're dealing with, just picking up the tome and getting nailed with a Lawbreaker stunt seems REALLY unfair; were I playing in that game I'd be pissed. If they PCs ooc know what they're dealing with it fine as long as they knew ooc that ic consequences would result... it'd be metagaming but especially in this instance having fun trumps playing in character.

As an aside, were a GM to say to me: "After vanquishing the Warlock you find prominently displayed in his study a tome written in some strange most likely inhuman language. Out of character messing with this book might have serious character ramifications, like LAWBREAKER serious." I'd probably respond... "Ok, that sounds like that could be a fun character twist! I pick up the Tome!" but that's with full disclosure and consent, a big part of our hobby that somet.. ofttimes gets left by the wayside is communication. As a GM you shouldn't force a change upon your PC without their consent, that's especially true in a game that's all about free will and choices!

Whew... ok done ranting.

As far as the testing goes below I'm quoting one of the better stories I've heard upon the subject the full thread can be found here

I handled something like that - the character was made an apprentice and slowly bought what was missing from the wizard template.

In Summer Knight they mention an ordeal - maybe it's something that you get after you pass the test and are seen as powerful enough to join the council.  Note that Harry skipped his - they thought that killing an experience wizard in self defense was enough of an ordeal.

I asked the player if he wanted a downtime "You went away an apprentice and came back a wizard" bit or if he wanted to play it out, and if he wanted to play it out did he want a chance to fail.  He decided to play it and risk failing.

So I did up a whole ceremony and the next time the group wanted to check out his mentor's library I sprang it on them.  When he arrived at the place where it was going to happen he was handled a brown robe and told to take a ritual bath - and something along the lines of "I assume you know how to use a face cloth so you can handle this yourself".  That was the first part of the ordeal he could fail.  I mean, if you say you can't give yourself a ritually cleansing bath then how can you call yourself a wizard?

Then I told him that he could start making declarations for his next spell.  The rest of the group chimed in with suggestions what he could declare and what skill to use for it.  For example, the bathroom was described as candle lit with scented water in the bath and a nice smelling incense filling the room - and I thought he might declare "The Lighting Set the Mood", "Incense Filled Lungs", "Centred From His Bath", "Relaxed" - that sort of thing, using Lore, Discipline, Conviction, and any other skill he could justify.  He didn't pick the aspects I thought he might, but he started declaring things and we wrote down everything he declared.

Sometime during the bath his clothing went missing from the room, leaving only the robe and the towels when he emerged from the tub.  (Another choice: would he wear towels under his robe.  He went with just the robe and made a Lore declaration "Dressed for the Part".)  Then as he left he found the hallway outside the bathroom had been lit.  Candles of one colour burned on the left hand side of the door, candles of another colour burned on the other.  He could pick a path, or just follow one back to the stairs and leave (leaving would be a failure).  After he picked he asked if there was any meaning to the colour and when I shrugged there was a Lore declaration for "Following the <colour name> path".

As he walked down the hallway there were other things he could use for inspiration (including things that I hadn't meant to be used; some of the basic descriptions were used to make declaration) until he came to a maze.  Then he had to choose if he would follow the left hand wall or the right hand wall to find the centre.  When he got to the centre he was able to declare a few more things.

Leaving the maze he came to a stairway - and could decided to go up or down (another choice and another thing to declare off of).  He had a few more choices and ended up at the basement stairs.  There were no lights in the stairway and a door at the bottom of the stairs.  He declared "Descending into the Darkness" and made his way down.

When he opened the door we switched back to the other characters, who were having brandy and sherries in the basement with members of the White Council.  Note: they would been having drinks wherever he showed up - the White Council being better able to guess his movements than I was.    By this point he'd been give the chance to make about 30 declaration but the dice had not been his friend on many of them.  Oh, and he had also been given the chance to cast spells to make his way easier - without being warned that if he cast any he would be using up all his prepared declarations.

He was told that there was another candidate - and a Brown Robe that was lying on the floor was pointed to.  Then a door was pointed to and he was told "Two Brown Robes enter, one White Robe leaves".  He had choice, to leave his robe or take it with him, and used the choice to make a last declaration - "Giving it all up for Magic" (or something like that).  In the room waited a man around his own age wearing boxer shorts who laughed and sneered something about "Didn't you have the brains to conjure something to wear? This is going to be so easy!" which led to a bit of a sidetrack as the group debated how many steps it would take to conjure boxer shorts and if he should waste an action or two to do so.  Note: if he had wasted all those declaration conjuring clothes he would have failed - being too narrow sighted to make it as a wizard (and he wouldn't have been able to pass the test).

He decided not to bother (and tried for a Presence based declaration of "I've got nothing to be ashamed of") and I announced combat was starting and the other guy was swinging his hand around and... Wait, we should do initiative here.  He's got identical stats to you so let's roll off to see who goes first.  Luckily the player rolled +++[] so he didn't think it was odd when I rolled and quickly scooped up the dice and said he won.

Then there was his action.  He asked others for advice - shield first or strike first?  The discussion went on for a while I told them that from the way the other guy was moving it was clear that he was going to attack.  When asked if it looked like there he had any defenses I shrugged and said "Only the boxer shorts".

Finally the player decide for an attack that could be non-lethal and hopefully take out the other guy in one go.  As he started debating how many declarations to use, I pointed out that they could only be used for his NEXT spell and yes, if he had conjured the boxers he would have conjured some pretty fantastic underwear.

He had about 14 aspects to tag, so he tagged them and three of his aspects from his sheet.  That meant that his attack spell was 34 + plus conviction + successes from the targeting.  And yes, it was huge amount of damage handed out...

Which was when I informed him that there was only one person in the room - himself (hey, he never used his sight!) and all that damage was hitting him.  It was going to be a takeout, but he could decide if he wanted to use his consequences.  If he filled all of his consequences - including the extreme one - then he would have only X stress left after his track was filled and that I'd be basing the results on how much excess stress was left.  The normal consequences were filled in quickly (well, he decided to take them and I said we would work out the details afterwards) but that extreme....  Long agonizing bit over that, but finally he decided to use it.

At which point I said it was time to deal with consequences.  It went something like: "Now let's see, for the extreme we have to modify one of your aspects.   See your High Concept Aspect of 'Potential Comic Book Inspired Wizard'? Erase the word 'Potential'.  Congrats, you passed."

Then we went over the various points where he could have failed.  Not being able to declare enough aspects - a wizard has to be imaginative and use what he has on hand.  Making enough declarations but dribbling them away on a series of small spells - a wizard needs to be able to conserve his powers, especially when he knows that there is a challenge coming.  Not acting decisively when faced with an opponent that needed to be taken out.  Not being willing to give it all (including his extreme consequence) for magic.

And when we finished this, we had a list of 14 phrases that he had come up via declarations - words that described what sort of a wizard he would be.

All in all I think it went well - even the players who weren't getting the face time enjoyed themselves.  Would everyone had enjoyed it if he had failed? Who knows? But he wanted a chance to fail so I gave it to him.

Hope this helps

Richard

*Delurking*

Alright, so here's my take on this one, a veil used in an ambush situation allows a tag of the aspect Veiled for the stealth roll.

My thoughts follow thusly; When Murphy and Harry discover Molly at the beginning of the crime scene in White Night they list off all the clues she gave away while veiled that allowed them to detect her (creaking floorboards, her perfume, ect.) but they didn't see her at all. So veils are blocks against sight, not necessarily the other senses. (more on that in a bit). During Small Favor, footprints are clearly left in the wake of a veil, another clue. Thus while a veil is helpful in setting up an ambush it's by no means foolproof.

As to covering the other senses, I'd liken it to Harry in Fool Moon when he's brewing potions he's talking about an invisibility potion and Bob tells him no way no how, just too many senses to cover (granted he's talking about hiding from a werewolf but I think it still applies here). That leads me to an interesting question, the sidebar on YS 252 A Block is a block is a block, talks about using assessments and declarations to define weak points in an opponents defense. Should the NPCs who are about to get ambushed be allowed to roll make declarations to help them perceive the veil?

Lastly while re-reading the section on veils last time I noticed this YS pg 276 has a passage to the effect that veils block perception both ways, to overcome this limitation you have to increase the shifts by two. Yep that's right you veil yourself and sure you can't be seen but everything YOU see is blurry unless your putting more shifts (which don't contribute to the strength) into the spell.

*Lurk mode engaged*