Here is my rough sketch of the covenant as it existed around the time of your Gauntlets.
The formal name of the Covenant is Hodopoion, but after many years it has become known as Carnacis. The original name came from the Criamon that founded the place as one of the first Hermetic covenants in deeply pagan lands. The later from the nearby intensely magical sight of Carnac.
Physically, the Covenant is on the north-western arm of land that defines the Gulf of Morbihan. The land is wet and marshy, but one of the few really magical places in Normandy. You are very near Carnac (to the west) and Auray (to the North). The main Covenant building is a large, white marbled Edifice, over 100 feet high at the top of the dome. The covenant is huge by local standards. Its aura is vast, covering nearly a square mile. The main covenant building is on a small hill, overlooking the Atlantic ocean. a road stretches to the north east to a small village about a half-mile away. This is the home of the covenfolk, craftsman, etc. Near the village is a cluster of conjured towers that hold junior magi's sancta, as well as supplies and gear for the covenant. Below the main structure is a large cavern structure that few have seen.
The covenant itself goes back to shortly after the Founding.
The covenant has a successful trading concern based out of Vannes. The magi rarely visit the city, and trusted mundane agents manage a fleet of over a dozen merchant ships that travel all over Europe. When a magi needs to travel, he simply rides along the merchant vessel as a passenger. The covenant's grogs do double duty as pirates. Every now and again one of the merchant ships will sail under the pirate flag, suing magic to disguise its nature. The profit comes not just from the prizes the pirates take- but the fact that it is always the covenant's competitors that get attacked. Finally, on some trips the trading vessels carry pounds of conjured silver to far off ports, where wares and cargo are purchased- avoiding the damaging effects of dumping magically created coin into the local economy. Both the piracy and creation of money are criminal endeavors (one mundane, and one a Low hermetic crime).
There is no concealing such a covenant and the magi do not try. They have friendly relations via mundane agents with the local cities of Aurey and Vannes. The lord of the region is Comte de Morbihan and while he is not hostile to the magi, he is wary of them and the power they wield. While they have not taken the knee, a local knight (Sir Luc) has, and the Comte has "generously granted" the land the covenant sits on to Sir Luc. Sir Luc is actually one of the ruling council in mystical disguise. The Comte frequently requests stealthy aid from the covenant, and more of then than not receives it. The Comte's feudal obligation runs up to Peter the Duke (or Count, depending on who you ask) of Brittany.
From passing Gauntlet to 1220, Aurelia will make sure the Clergy is "placid" or at least docile enough that they do not try to send Saints and papal delegations our way. She will have maintained correspondance with the Clergy of Rhuys and Vannes amongst others and probably be seen as a sort of dignified gentlewoman, who knows Latin, some knowledges etc. being a good wife and mother - then the clergy can accept she seems to have more freedom than many women, travels quite a bit, and gets involved in theological discussions, for she does it so eloquently and always with respect for God's supremacy.
As I have written in my background, Aurelia is married to Corentin (last name to be decided), but the Falling Leaves stuck, and this is the name of Corentin's Estate. Corentin i imagine is subservient to "Sir Luc", but could actually be our Seneschal conducting many of the day to day affairs of the covenant if we so desire? (He has the Unaging virtue as well as a good longevity potion, and has been around for as long as Aurelia). As written in my thread, I imagined he was first a provider of luxury items, but it seems, we have an ample fleet to take care of that.
Another thing I would like to dispute slightly, and this is no crusade against a single person, but I feel that Deborah's vermin creation, continous whereever you go, having giant spiders in the corners of halls, thousands of bees in the gardens making honey etc is too much. Too much in the way that Deborah's magic sets the tone for the entire covenant in a way that steers it towards a "blatantly gifted covenant" and that is not what I want. I would like the covenant to be the sum of the magi, and fair enough if you occasionally have to sidestep a snake or a large spider here and there, or that a certain part of the garden is buzzing with honeymakers, but I feel that the vermin have been described as infesting the covenant. No thank you (Said with respect and utmost sincerity - Deborah is a cool character concept!), the vermin can stay around her sanctum, and the most useful and none disgusting can come out to make honey, jump in ponds etc.
Segragate her in her own tower, callit the icky-creepy tower, put it in the furthest corner away from the rest
Or maybe her sanctum is in a bog, and she just shows up occasionally for meetings or to check a book out of the library.
We have huge covenant grounds, so extensive that Deborah's spirit can only be Present in a relatively small part of it (one standard Boundary, since it is not a Daimon), so vast that while her presence likely exerts a small influence over the entire place, making it a bit less attractive, only a relatively small portion is, as RoF put it, Blatantly Gifted, with Warping of covenfolk, watchful spirit, army of vermin guardians, increased Aura, and thorough ickiness.
So, there's a choice, and I'm happy either way:
Deborah can live way off to the side in her Sanctum of Doom. The covenant's vermin problems are either atmospheric or minor. Deborah, being out of the way, isn't controlling it. The benefits and problems of living with a vast swarm of coordinated vermin are largely averted. She can bring some of them to the covenant, if need be. Ours might not be a favored covenant to visit, but would not be only visited in great need. Her area, of course, is exceedingly creepy.
Or she can live right in the thick of things. The benefits and problems of living with her and her friends are in full force.
I'm happy either way. So's she.
(RoF, I take to heart your comment about the covenant being influenced by all the characters. So I expect the covenant to be influenced by Tytalus intrigue, by some archangel/Bonisagus stuff, by some Diedne stuff and so on. I hope that you similarly appreciate that one character represents an extravagant investment in "Fucking Scary to be Anywhere Near" and that a covenant that really represents the sum of its magi will include that investment in the sum.)
Just checking in, I'm not able to read through everything at the moment, but i saw a reference to a book on Parma magica. in my ars world, there are no books on PM. It is too possible that they fall into the wrong hands. Even possessing such a book is a Low Crime. Writing one is subject to get you Marched. Giving one to someone outside the Order will bring down the wrath of every hoplite in the tribunal plus all of House Tremere.
That said, it is fairly easy to find a teacher for PM. assume that at Carnacis, you can get a senior magus to teach you at a quality of 12 for up to two seasons for nothing more than 2 pawns of vis per season. This is way cheaper than it should be and is supported by an Order wide custom to accept the pawns as the price. Being asked to teach the parma is very flattering for a magus, and by tradition the student should consider his teacher as something like a "hermetic uncle" or "godfather". Asking your parens to teach you is also traditional when your get along with the maga. Such a request is seen as being a way of honoring the parens and reaffirming the parens-fili relationship.
Actually its 60 points, and yes you can split that up however you like. The covenant is lavish in lab spending, and with its trade network can provide high quality glassware, tools, exotic items etc.
of course I appreciate Deborah's contributions and concept as well no doubt about it - I was just afraid that she would infest everything, everywhere at all times. It seems we can find a balance and then I'm happy
In ORDER to keep Ken closer at hand, I suggest that the Aura be reduced in size. A square mile is big, really too big through marshy terrain to even cover with Aegis of the Hearth.
Pulling it in, will make us live a little closer. Or we could have some covenant members living outside the Aegis, centered on the main buildings.
I guess one advantage of having the Aura wide and Aegis narror is that the Spirit may be kept outside the actual building, while patrolling the grounds. This could be helpful since other persons could want to tap the Aura while avoiding detection.
Carnac is close, but it is such an important mythic site, I suggest we use the approach from the Tribunal book and make it more dangersou than it is worth to actually be tamed by a covenant. That makes it worthwhile from a story purpose and explains why our "Flambeau" could be so interested in joining our Covenant. As long as he bides his time, he clearly has the potential to being a cool "sleeper." (Thats the Tytalas in me thinking).
I think everyone ought to live within the Aegis, though maybe we have a large Aegis. I don't think we can cover the whole square mile, unless, say, we circumvalated and walked along the top of our rampart.
The spirit is omnipresent within a particular Boundary, within which things are especially "interesting." It isn't exactly on patrol. It can perceive further than its Boundary, both through its own senses and by tapping into vermin that stray (and they do) but has a much lesser awareness, and much less power. In a similar way, more than merely cosmetic disturbances "leak out," but the spirit only raises the Aura within its area, and while there are a lot more vermin outside that area because of Deborah, they are not always under Deborah's or the spirit's control.
Yeah, I like Carnac. It's a great place to harvest vis--if you have Chthonic Magic.
I'm posting Deborah's spirit in a few. I made a minor tweak to its sensory power, which allows it once again to be have a very good idea about what's going on in and around the covenant, making it and her exceptional guardians, while mitigating the horror.
It's a great place to harvest vis--if you have Chthonic Magic.