The Caravan was never really considered a covenant, though in many ways it behaved like one, and never confined itself to one tribunal. It was only when the founder died and The Caravan began to fall apart that it was realized how powerful it had grown, though what remained of it was barely a spring covenant. Many of those who had journeyed with The Caravan went their own way- back to the Covenants which they officially belonged, but a core cadre of mages, especially ones with no official allegiance, decided to take what they could salvage and begin anew, not traveling, but as a new Covenant, building upon the discoveries that the Caravan had uncovered in it's travels.