The covenant is located on the ruins of the Greek city of Tanais, formerly on the coast of the Sea of Azov where the main channel of the Don River emptied into it, but now about six or seven miles up a smaller Don distributary on the northern edge of the river's delta, to the east of a coastal fishing village.
History records that the site was settled first by the fierce Amazons, at the point where Tanais, son of the Amazon Lysippe, threw himself into the river, after which he was worshipped as a god. The city was later colonized by the Greeks, who dwelled there until 330 AD, when it was sacked by the Goths, who destroyed a significant temple to Poseidon.
A previous covenant was established in 1208, and seemed to be doing well. Surviving records indicate a vast aura, extending for miles around, with a level of five at the center of the covenant and in a system of caves formed by underground rivers, as well a number of promising vis sources. Despite this promising start, the covenant vanished suddenly in 1211. A number of grogs and other covenfolk survived the attack that destroyed it, and reported an assault by raiders of uknown origin; the magi were never heard from again.
The Tribunal has suggested this site for the for three reasons. First, it's extensive aura in and of itself makes this location a reasonable one. Second, the magi of Thebes are eager to recover any ancient secrets of Tanais and its temple to Poseidon, not to mention the earlier Amazon inhabitants. Third, the Tribunal would really like to know what happened to first covenant, and whether whatever it was poses a threat to the rest of the Tribunal, or indeed the Order.
The site of the covenant overlooks a bend in the stream, where the flow shifts from northerly to westerly. The ruins of Tanais lie directly to the north, through a dense ring of trees, its southern edge perhaps 100 paces distant from the shore, The river was once wider here, and the city site nearer the shore than it is today. The bank of the stream here is fairly steep; beyond the bank, the land slopes upwards towards the site of the ancient city. It's mostly farmland, but the fields are cut by many gullies and ravines. As the plateau nears the ruins, the slope becomes more gentle--it's almost horizontal by the time you're in the trees.
The ruins, and the boundary of the Aegis of the Hearth, occupy a rectangular clearing within a ring of woods. The portion of the ruins currently inhabited by the covenant centers on a large fountain, which was repaired by the previous covenant. The magi are repairing the buildings in this vicinity (all of them built or rebuilt by the old covenant), save for the ruined temple to Poseidon--repairing that would risk the source of Rego vis, the rainwater that collects on the temple floor. In addition to the buildings above ground, the ruins include many caves in the limestone bedrock, some natural, some man-made, and some a combination of the two. These caves were used for storage in ancient times; the current covenant uses some of them for this purpose, and uses others to house underground labs.
The Don delta is inhabited by Kipchaks, a Turkic-speaking pastoralist people who pushed out the previous inhabitants two or three centuries prior. Though pastoralist, most of them are settled in the 13th century, and even engage in some horticulture, principally wheat, barley and rye. They bury their dead in mounds (earlier, pagan ones featured stelae--erect stone slabs--to represent slain enemies and the like). They're known as fierce warriors, and for their independent, often even warrior-like, women; they apparently had a high rate of literacy until their native language was replaced as a literary language by the languages of Christianity (Greek) and Islam (Arabic). Their social structure has been characterized as democratic, and seems to be decentralized, with small groups joining together into "hordes" for warfare. They converted to Christianity in the 11th century, under the influence of the Georgians, with many becoming Islamic in the 12th and 13th.
The Kipchaks near the covenant are settled. They raise cattle, sheep, and horses, as well as wheat, barley, and rye--and so the land around us is mostly pastures and fields. They're Muslims in this area.