Sabbatzarod Coven
The Sabbatzarod Coven is a nominally independent feudal coven that is a vassal state of the Duchy of Frymar with the implicit understanding that they also provide favors to the King of Fumaya when required.
The Sabbatzarod Coven is often referred to by simplified nicknames that are easier to say. Sometimes called "the Frymar Coven" because it's vassal to the duchy of Frymar or sometimes called "the Fumayan Coven" because it is the only recognized coven in the Kingdom of Fumaya.
Structure
A council of elders votes on coven policy. They have an elected representative to act as ambassador to diplomatic functions, basically acting as proxy count or countess.
They provide magical services for the Duke of Frymar and King of Fumaya when asked but prefer to be left alone as much as possible.
In order to ensure their autonomy, they have to not annoy Fumaya's ruling elites.
They have a laissez faire and let coven members largely do as they please as long as they don't embarass or trouble the coven leaders, in which case they step in hard.
The coven elders take their feudal obligations to protect their subjects seriously. They do not allow coven members to bully or mistreat commoners, especially commoners under their perview.
They give the peasants a lot of leeway to do as they please as long as they pay their taxes on time and don't make waves.
Culture
Since the Coven is a coalition of many different people and factions, it has little unifying culture.
The main cultural value is a sort of proto-libertarianism "you do what you want as long as you don't hurt others."
There is also a cullture of favor trading. While Zerodians are normally okay with their members being openly selfish and mercenary, they are expected to deal openly and above all, keep their word.
Public Agenda
The official public agenda is to provide magical support to Duchy of Frymar and Kingdom of Fumaya.
The unofficial (but still well-known) agenda is to provide political, educational, and logistical support to non-hermetic mages in Fumaya.
Assets
The organization controls a castle with lots of magical enchantments. It boasts an impressive magical library and has a vault full of potions and scrolls.
There is not enough room for every member to live in the castle but the organization has many houses in Yellowtree County in case all their members come to the county at the same time.
They also have several properties in Ivanna City and one or two modest houses in King's Lake where members can crash and a few very modest houses along Fumayan crossroads that members can crash in or drop letters off.
History
For most of Fumaya's history, The Fumayan Children got along with each other relatively well, but there was a period where they had a civil war of sorts.
For a long time, there was a public temple in King's Lake and a secret temple in Ivanna City. The two temples split along ideological lines and when the secret temple was publically epxosed, the Ivanna City temple residents believed the other Children deliberately exposed them.
A common political division among the Children is those that endorse the idea that all forms of arcane magic are equally valid and those that endorse the idea that my magical tradition is superior.
The King's Lake faction believed that classical hermetic wizardry and by association aesthetic Hermetic Wizardry was the best form of magic in keeping with Greymoria's ideals. The faction also believed that the Children should stay (mostly) above board and work within the system rather than try to subvert it.
The Ivanna City faction believed that all magical traditions should be equally valid but this morphed into a loose alliance of all Fumayan mages who are not hermetics against the hermetics. They also believed the Fumayan Children and Children in general should be apart from feudal society (though not necessarily hostile to it).
With fewer than two dozen members, they didn't have a proper war. They also mostly avoided killing each other, so most of the fighting was non-lethal or based on social one-upsmanship, but they did had a non-lethal duel or two where the winner "accidentally" killed the loser.
There were also more than a few very suspicious accidents. Whenever any accident or mischance befell one of the Children, they commonly blamed the other for causing it, either on flimsy evidence or no evidence at all.
Tensions got really high when a cell of skin changer witches and their ogre flunkies caused some trouble in land of Fumaya and both factions claimed the other faction was working with the skinchangers.
The King's Lake faction won the upper hand in winning general public opinion and in winning the favor of most of Fumaya's feudal lords. This promptedany members of the losing faction to leave Fumaya altogether. This led to various non-hermetic mages who had no direct Greymoria affiliation getting discriminated against for their magical associations alone.
The then Duke of Frymar sheltered a lot of the losers and set up a relatively modest county-level feudal coven basically so he could have access to magical minions.
While the Fumaya Coven was and is nominally aligned with the Children, over the the decades it has become more secular and less Greymoria focused though there are individual members who are pious.
Demography and Population
The plurality of the members are folk magicians with a mix of body wizards, warlocks, and an odd sorcerer or two.
Not every Fumayan mage that is not a hermetic is affiliated with the coven but a majority are. Most of the hold-outs are either don't want to bow to any authority, even a relatively light-handed one, or else they don't even want to be tangentially connected to the Children.
While the coven has a lot of mages of various kinds, the local peasant farmers are mostly non-mages. They work farms and ply their trades like most other Fumayans, they just pay their taxes to coven mages instead of nobles.
Territories
The organization runs the Yellowtree County.
Military
The area has a small volunteer army that is well-paid, well equipped, and well supported by combat mages.
Religion
On paper, the coven was founded under Greymoria's watchful gaze, but the organization as a whole is fairly secular.
Coven members and the peasants are free to worship or not worship as they see fit.
Foreign Relations
Most mages in Fumaya are either members of Fumaya's wizard's guild, the Fumayan Children, or this coven.
When the coven was first founded, tensions between these three groups were high but now things have cooled. The three magical groups are not exactly best friends but they haven't had any serious conflict and that can hammer out magical item and reagent trading civilly.
There are a small number of mages that are recognized members of two of the three groups, but they can be counted on two hands.
Laws
The ruling council prefers to rule with a light hand. They have a laissez faire and let coven members largely do as they please as long as they don't embarrass or trouble the coven leaders, in which case they step in hard.
The coven elders take their feudal obligations to protect their subjects seriously. They do not allow coven members to bully or mistreat commoners, especially commoners under their purview.
They give the peasants a lot of leeway to do as they please as long as they pay their taxes on time and don't make waves.
Agriculture & Industry
The economy is based on conventional farming plus very carefully managed harvesting of reagents near the magic font.
Education
Education is valued but because there are so many different magical traditions represented, the coven relies on individual mentor-apprenticeship relationships.
Type
Geopolitical, Magocracy
Alternative Names
Fumaya Coven, Frymar Coven, Hodge Podge Coven (derogatory)
Demonym
Zarodians, the Coven Collective, Hodge Podgers (derogatory)
Leader
Head of Government
Government System
Magocracy
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Market economy
Major Exports
They export potions and scrolls, or more commonly lone out mages on a temporary basis.
Official State Religion
Parent Organization
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments