The Oath Basin

The Oath Basin lets Koravel cooperate without pretending to be one state. A circular hall and broad open court occupy a sheltered mountain bowl reached by separate roads from the principalities. Each delegation enters through its own equal court, occupies its own lodge, and brings no more than the agreed guard. No court may fortify the center or turn the geography of arrival into precedence.

During oath season, rivals renew defensive alliances, assign winter-road obligations, negotiate passage, settle exchanges, and decide which undertakings they are willing to add to the Compact. A court that does not swear is not bound. One that does swear remains bound until the obligation is fulfilled, and the Basin’s Assayers establish only that the promise was meant when made.

Permanent custodians keep the oath court clear through winter, maintain the mostly empty lodges, and preserve the register no principality would entrust to another. Their Sextons can produce terms whose speakers are long dead when a court would prefer them forgotten. That authority ends at the Basin’s roads. The custodians preserve what Koravel has agreed; they do not decide what Koravel must agree next.