The Circle

The Circle gathers the Oathlords of Rhovan’s five houses at Orasai. Any house may summon it, and refusing to attend carries public shame, but attendance does not require agreement. A measure binds all Rhovan only when every Oathlord assents. One house standing aside leaves the circle open, giving the house with the strongest city and the poorest ceremonial house the same power to refuse.

Unanimity lets the Circle swear alliances, judge disputes between houses, and raise a common defense, and it has done all three within living memory. It cannot tax, maintain a garrison, appoint a standing officer, or hold property after the gathering ends. A condemnation binds only the houses that swear to it. The Circle has condemned Eclipser practice four times and has never agreed on who may enforce the prohibition or against whom. Each house prefers enforcement directed at another.

Witnesses give its decisions force. No oath at Orasai counts until tested, and a house that breaks a tested undertaking may find no Witness willing to sit at its next agreement. Without witnessed credit, that house must secure grazing, passage, and cooperation by force each season. The Circle has little permanent machinery because the credibility of a kept oath performs work another polity would assign to offices.

The five houses use refusal differently. Varakh brings bridges and granaries, Orran a court that cannot be besieged, Kestar guarded readiness, Tavrin negotiable terms at Serevan, and Maroth the right to speak first. None of those holdings changes the equal count in the ring. Each house can prevent common action, and none can continue common action alone.

That limit keeps Rhovan’s seat at the Standing Council empty. A permanent delegate would hold the moon’s word between gatherings and would necessarily answer through one house. The Circle can unite Rhovan for a particular undertaking, but it cannot leave behind a government empowered to undertake the next one.