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Covenants

Covenants are composed objects which represent the abstract social entities formed as the result of taking an oath. Character parties, religious orders, colleges of magic, alliances between factions, and guilds are all examples of covenants. Any oath between two or more characters who have reached the level at which they have received their True Names results in the creation of such an object.

It doesn't matter whether the oath is formal or informal, sworn in front of witnesses or with the help of a geaslayer. All oaths result in a covenant. Some covenants are just less significant than others.

Covenant objects serve as managerial data structures which encapsulate the knowledge shared by the members of the socal entity which it represents. This is necessary in order to facilitate the modelling of social knowledge for NPCs, and, to a lesser extent, to provide a unit of functionality for modelling social groups at a higher level of abstraction in the interest of efficiency. The covenant, or instances of subclases thereof, can be used to provide bits of social context to an interaction between a player character and an NPC, or even between two NPCs. For instance, the members of rival duelling clubs would react differently to one another based on the context of their memberships in their respective covenants than without them.

Each covenant, like other trinary composed objects, is composed of three aspects. For a covenant, these are its Function, its Form, and its Order.

Function

The aspect of the covenant which defines its purpose, its guiding principle, or its goal. For a guild covenant, it may be the skills which its members seek to further and promote; in the case of a magical college, it may be the promotion of one particular sphere or philosophy of magic. Simpler covenants such as the character party may just define a simple purpose such as "to have fun" or "to seek out adventure." Other party covenants may have a more pragmatic purpose: to promise "not to backstab" or "one for all and all for one."

factors of the initial oathtaking which relate to Function and determine the function-related traits:
- whether the purpose* is explicitly stated and can be tied clearly to the stories of the covenant ("this is what we are doing, and this is why we do it...")
- the relationship objects shared between the individuals swearing the oath which creates the covenant
- whether the purpose is dear to any gods invoked
- those gods' divinity
- whether the purpose and the acts involved in completing the purpose can be directly related to the stories of the covenant. An example of this would be if the covenant has a story that can be compared to the actions being presently undertaken, "this reminds me of the time that the founder of uor guild made a sword that was used by Odin to fight so and so"
continuing events which relate to Function:
- whether purpose is being adhered to (ie are the oaths being adhered to)
- whether new oaths have been added and sworn

Form

The aspect of the covenant which defines its outward form as others understand it: its material assets such as halls, nodes, or towers; its uniform or livery (if any); its flags, emblems, blazons, relics, crests, or seals; and, indeed, anything which anchors its identity in the physical realm (which can even include such things as passwords and handshakes).

factors of the initial oathtaking which relate to Form and determine the form-related traits:
- the mana of the area where the oath is taken
- whether the oath is taken "on" a specific object (as in "I swear by my sword"). The value or personal relevence the item sworn upon has to the person
- whether specific items are sacrificed or dedicated to the oath (as in "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor")
- the quality* and mana of both kinds of object (sworn on or dedicated to covenant) and the degree to which they are incorporated into the stories of the covenant
- the incarnativity or the degree to which gods invoked fit into the stories of the covenant (if any of the relics associated with gods invoked are owned by or dedicated to the covenant this might increase the form)
- the value or personal relevence of the item sworn upon, sacrificed or dedicated has to the person
continuing events which relate to Form:
- whether the covenant has resources it deems sufficient

Order

The aspect of the covenant which defines the roles of its members, rules of membership (as they differ from their oaths), its organizational structure, its leadership, and its rules of conduct.

factors of the initial oathtaking which relate to Order and determine the order-related traits:
- whether or not the oath specifies a leadership or other structure
- the strength of the rules specified by the oath
- the severity of any punishments specified for violations
- the size of the groups involved (swearing eternal friendship between two kingdoms has more impact than swearing between friends)
- the kenning of any gods invoked
- the degree to which leadership is referred to or represented by the stories of the covenant
continuing events which relate to Order:
- whether the leaders are obeyed or not

* asterisked items will have a greater impact if they are reinforced by the astrology of the moment (time of day as well as day of the faerie calendar and the cycle of that calender and of the age)

Statistics

Function

Creed (Primary) -- the defining oaths sworn by the covenant's current members
- Incorporative Balance -- The covenant only has one oath, which is a general oath of politeness, which is easy for anyone to swear (minimal rules of conduct)
- Impulsive Balance -- The covenant has a second level of oath which implies more than mere politeness, but a friendship or special relationship between its members.
- Imperial Balance -- The covenant has a third level of oath which constitutes a fairly inflexible set of rules
- Interpersonal Balance -- The covenant reaches a point where it needs to distinguish between members and initiates. It needs a more restrictive, but also more flexible, oath for members.
- Institutional Balance -- The covenant needs to have personal representatives, a special oath must be created for its envoys. This oath will be difficult to uphold, given that it creates a set of rules which are intended to exemplify the covenant's true purposes.
- Interindividual Balance -- The covenant requires an oath which perfectly expresses its founding principles. This oath is extremely rare, as it is nearly impossible to create or uphold.
Agenda (Secondary) -- every time a member hears a story about the covenant, it has the potential to effect the agenda. If the story indicates members are fulfilling the covenant's oaths, it increases the agenda. If the story indicates some sort of failure by members to uphold the covenant's oaths, however, the agenda is reduced. This effect can be magnified if the story is put into the archives of the covenant.

Form

Identity (Primary) -- The characteristics by which the covenant is known to be itself (eg., uniform, livery, flags, emblems, blazons, crests, seals, etc.) Relics are a particularly important part of the covenant's identity.
- Incorporative Balance -- the identity of a covenant is carried only by its members; every member has witnessed every other member's oath
- Impulsive Balance -- the covenant has grown large enough that all members have not been witness to each others' oaths, so a physical anchor for the covenant's identity may be needed. The anchor may be a password, a meeting-place, a uniform, etc.
- Imperial Balance -- The covenant has become large enough to distinguish between roles in its organization, and requires more than one anchor for its identity
- Interpersonal Balance -- The covenant has distinct units, which each require their own distinguishing mark in addition to the covenant's
- Institutional Balance -- Once a covenant spreads beyond the bounds of the culture in which it began, it must have identities adapted to each area where it is found. Local manifestations will help develop these individual identities, but the imprint of the most prominent culture will still be felt everywhere the outposts are found.
- Interindividual Balance -- By the time the covenant is spread throughout the world (an exceedingly rare occurrance), its identity is highly individualized and universally varied.
Assets (Secondary) -- The distinguishing physical assets which are considered to be owned or controlled by the covenant (eg., buildings, areas, magical nodes, shrines, artifacts, etc.)

Order

Governance (Primary) -- decision-making processes of the covenant, its leadership, and the rules under which they operate
- Incorporative Balance -- The covenant seldom has need for a decision-making process
- Impulsive Balance -- The covenant sometimes needs a temporary leader or representative
- Imperial Balance -- A more permanent leadership structure is needed for the accomplishment of more long-reaching goals
- Interpersonal Balance -- Multiple levels of governance are required to allow delegation of tasks in complex processes
- Institutional Balance -- The need for a more democratic structure requires governance be codified in bylaws or a constitution
- Interindividual Balance -- Once the principles of the covenant become more important than its structure, the powers of the decision-makers must be limited to minor matters, with major decisions requiring a concensus of the whole
Authority (Secondary) -- the degree to which the leadership structure is heeded by the entire membership, accepting the roles specified by the leaders and following rules established by the leaders.

Traits

Traits for Covenant objects are:

Unary traits

informedness (Order)
- defined as degree to which its history functionally informs its decision-making process
- Character trait equivalent -- intelligence
substance (Form)
- defined as the power of the connection between the covenant's relics and its stories
  - Character trait equivalent -- strength
incentive (Function)
- defined as the capacity of the stories to impart the values of the covenant to its members
- Character trait equivalent -- creativity

Binary traits

iconology (Order over Form)
- The ability which the covenant has to create and define its own relics and their meaning.
- Character trait equivalent -- dexterity
aesthetics (Form over Function)
- defined as the ability of the covenant to inspire quality as well as quantity of art and music
- Character trait equivalent -- grace
relevance (Function over Order)
- defined as the covenant's ability to meet the needs and concerns of its ordinary members
- Character trait equivalent -- empathy
insight (Order over Function)
- defined as the ability to add stories
- Character trait equivalent -- perceptiveness
acquisitiveness (Form over Order)
- defined as the tendency to acquire wealth and physical objects
- Character trait equivalent -- resilience
idealism (Function over Form)
- defined as the degree to which the ideals of the covenant try to rule its form
- Character trait equivalent -- glamour

Trinary traits

orthodoxy (Order over Form over Function)
- defined as resistance to change
- Character trait equivalent -- willpower
affluence (Form over Function over Order)
- defined as resistance to damage to the covenant due to the assets available in hard times
- Character trait equivalent -- stamina
fidelity (Function over Order over Form)
- defined as the resistance to the mundane which derives from members' faithfulness to the oaths of the covenant
- Character trait equivalent -- magistry

Stories

How the "Mind" of the Covenant Thinks About Itself

The stories of the covenant influence how its members perceive the world. The same stories are also important for the AIs which control the non-player characters who are members. Those same NPCs may react in some conversations by telling the stories if they think they are appropriate to the discussion.

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