The Circle

Simon Poole (deceased)

Nate Cotter (deceased)

David 'Corley' Mackey (deceased)

Cal 'Nick' Nicholson (deceased)

John Slater (deceased)

Stéfanie Roux (deceased)

Liam Widmore (arrested)

Rian Brady (deceased)

Filip Sterchevici (arrested)

Charlotte Middleton (arrested)

Anthony Giry (arrested)

The Circle is a now mostly-defunct organisation of quantum terrorists. Their enemies include the Reclaimers and their true Enemy (capitalised), Fran Grenouille.

## Overview

Erik Draper described them as "a group of quasi-religious, pseudo-scientific fanatics" with "no interest in changing the past for their own goals." Instead, they believe that time is circular (hence their name) and that things that happened before can and will happen again – albeit in more of a general sense. They believe that a great cataclysm is coming, in the same vein as the Biblical Flood or the Holocaust, and to prove it they are rumoured to be creating – or maybe already have created – a series of ontological paradoxes, by replacing objects, and possibly even people, with similar or identical copies, then removing the original versions from the timeline. By doing so, they negate any actual quantum infraction as, theoretically, the timeline will remain unchanged.

## History

The Circle was set up over two hundred years ago - though this may have been in the future - and was the original progenitor of the Hub design that the QIA later unknowingly copied. The Circle considers its greatest achievements to be The First Innovation and The Tower, their secret base of operations in Vienna.

The Circle's primary goals appear to be the safeguarding of the First Innovation and the prevention of the Fundamental Crisis. ("Circle")

### May 2023

Three significant events occurred almost concurrently in late May 2023, just weeks before the prophesied Fundamental Crisis. The first was an internal coup led by Claudia Horne against her father and leader of the group, Arvin Costlemach. The second was, thanks in part to a deal made by Enora Gallou with Fran Grenouille, and in part by the ingenuity of Ethan Taylor, the elimination of the technology hiding and protecting The Tower from the real world, and the subsequent storming of the facility by the Austrian Federal Army and the Federal Police of Austria, leading to the arrests of most of the organisation's members. Unfortunately, the Circle's technical officers had wiped all trace of their software and files, leaving the Tower and most of its technology useless. The final event occurred later that same night in London, where both Claudia and Costlemach had gone - both were found and murdered by Fran. These three events more or less marked the end of The Circle. ("Circle")

## Structure

While the Circle is led by a Council which sometimes convenes in The Tower in Vienna, like the Reclaimers, they are also structured into individual cells, each with their own goals and members.

### The Council

In 2023, until the organisation's fall, the Circle was led by a Council of thirteen members, including Arvin Costlemach, Claudia Horne, Rian Brady and Mohamed Marzouq. ("Circle")

### New York Cell

In late April 2020, Draper sent Ethan Taylor to infiltrate the organisation. He later made contact with Nate Cotter, who welcomed him into his group. ("Unnatural", "Witchfinder")

#### Sicily Mission

Nate and his crew, including Ethan, attempted to create an ontological paradox by Jumping to Sicily, 1981, and replacing a vase of flowers on a film set with an identical vase of flowers. Unbeknownst to anyone but Ethan at the time, this bizarrely coincided with the London Field Team's own mission. The Circle's objective was achieved, and no infraction was caused. ("Hall")

#### New York Mission

The cell's next mission was to the New York Public Library in 1975, to replace a book with a near-exact replica. Although Ethan was secretly captured and then later released by the Washington Field Team, the mission was nonetheless successful. ("Academy")

After many weeks of inactivity, Cotter at last led his cell on what he referred to as a mission that concerned "the key to everything". This turned out to be a mission to the year 778 and the legendary sword Joyeuse. However, their efforts were interrupted by Miranda Davenport, leading a small group of Reclaimers on behalf of Brent Hall. During the resulting clash between the two factions, Ethan got hold of the sword and the rest of the cell were wiped out, including Cotter himself at Ethan's hands. ("Family")

### Other Members

#### Stéfanie Roux

Roux, a former member, left the Circle at some point and changed her loyalties instead to Brent Hall, assisting with the doubling of Joseph Christophe with an identical corpse, allowing Hall to take the real Christophe with him when he escaped from QIA custody ("Adam"). Roux was later arrested by the QIA but secretly allowed to commit suicide, enabled by Enora Gallou, who felt guilty after spending many years believing she had murdered her. ("Nicole")

Prior to this, Stéfanie had told Enora about Arvin Costlemach, and the true loyalties of Anthony Giry.

### Anthony Giry

Anthony, an old friend of both Stéfanie and Enora, had been working for The Circle for many years; indeed, it was he who rescued and doubled Stéfanie in Auxerre. In 2023, after Enora heard the name Arvin Costlemach again from Carlos Sánchez, she lured Anthony to London and had him arrested. ("Circle")

## Facilities

### The Tower

The Tower, from which The Circle was run, was based inside the abandoned Flakturm VII G-tower in Augarten, Vienna, existing slightly out of phase with time so that anyone not of the organisation entering it would find nothing but a derelict building, while in fact the opposite was true - the interior had fourteen floors of twenty-third technology, including offices, living quarters, computer laps, a training facility, a Hub, the Council Chamber and even a swimming pool. ("Circle")

### Northumberland Hub

The Circle have at least one known Hub facility, in Northumberland, seemingly overseen by a member named Dragoş Cozma, who assisted Nate Cotter's cell with the Roncevaux Pass mission. ("Family")

## Known Members

### Current

* Mohamed Marzouq
* Dragoş Cozma

### Former

* Simon Poole (deceased)
* Nate Cotter (deceased)
* David 'Corley' Mackey (deceased)
* Cal 'Nick' Nicholson (deceased)
* John Slater (deceased)
* Ethan Taylor (acted as a mole, posing as 'Bill Collins'; returned to the QIA)
* Stéfanie Roux (deceased)
* Liam Widmore (incarcerated in the Void)
* Rian Brady (deceased)
* Filip Sterchevici (arrested)
* Charlotte Middleton (arrested)
* Anthony Giry (arrested)
* Claudia Horne (deceased)
* Arvin Costlemach (deceased)