The Koravelan Compact

The Koravelan Compact lets Koravel’s principalities cooperate without creating a government above them. Each court governs its own territory, ports, forces, and warrants, then comes to the Oath Basin once a year to swear the obligations it accepts. There is no majority and no vote capable of binding a principality that remains silent. After oath season, the delegations return home and the common assembly ceases to act.

Each undertaking has its own parties. Road work, passage rights, defense, prisoner exchange, and trade terms bind only the courts that swear to them. An accepted oath does not lapse with its speaker, dynasty, or immediate use; it remains in the register until fulfilled. Sexton custodians preserve the authoritative record at the Basin so no rival principality may alter or misplace an obligation kept in its own archive.

Assayers determine whether an oath was meant when spoken, not whether it was wise or will be kept. A court confronted with an inherited undertaking can challenge the speaker’s sincerity, but attempts to prove an ancestor false have repeatedly failed. The register can therefore open a pass, require aid, or settle a campaign generations after the original reason has vanished.

Koravel’s limited common acts use the same machinery. Valdyr receives protection because principalities swore it, Stormguard is crewed with Edrane under accepted terms, and Koravel’s delegate to the Standing Council carries a mandate from one oath season to the next. When that mandate expires, the delegate cannot continue speaking for the moon by custom or convenience.

Edrane coordinates the convoys Koravel needs, and the principalities resent a service none has replaced. They still refuse to create a permanent office capable of negotiating for all of them, because such an office could also claim authority within Koravel. The Compact can preserve consent and coordinate particular duties. It cannot turn dependency abroad into centralized rule at home.