Covens

> "Covens aren't a cult, at least, not all of them. They're a family."
>
> - Nixie Snow to Peter Hale

## Witch Covens

**A Coven** is a name used to describe a gathering of witches. A coven is generally a group of twelve or more witches who occasionally meet to practice magic, celebrate sacred holidays, and discuss topics on witchcraft. As shown on several occasions, covens seem to always have both a leader and followers.

In New Orleans, there are at least nine covens, all of which have detailed rules of conduct and a complex structure. All members of each of the nine New Orleans covens follow a leader known as the Regent. Together, the nine covens are a collective community that has Elders who guide them, and each coven individually has its own structure and different types of magic that they practice (such as Sacrificial Magic, Necromancy, etc) as well. However, they all appear to share their common form of witchcraft, Ancestral Magic, which they practice by drawing upon the magical power of the Ancestors.

To earn the title of an Elder, a witch must have the power bestowed upon them by another Elder, or, in the case where there are no Elders to pass on the power, the witch in question must be able to consecrate the mortal remains of a powerful witch.

## Structure

New Orleans is the city with the largest number of covens, which are well structured and differentiated compared to other covens or groups shown so far. While small coven, generally family-run, refer to a leader or Elder, in New Orleans, witch covens are hierarchical according to a well-defined pattern:

* Regent: Chief witch of all nine covens of New Orleans, sovereign of the witch community and acting as an emissary to the Ancestors. This role is not hereditary, but elective by mutual agreement among the Elders based on the candidate's leadership skills and needs of the community.
* Elder: Every coven has at least a couple of Elder witches who act as guides and priests of the individual coven, as well as dealing with internal problems of the coven concerned.
* Harvest Witch: Every 300 years, four young witches known as "Harvest Witches" are chosen from the French Quarter Coven to be the forefront of the Harvest Ritual, a ceremony that according to Vincent Griffith can be performed only by Elders from the French Quarter Coven. Upon completion of the ritual, a Harvest Witch gains the favor of the Ancestors and is revered by the community to be trained as future leaders.
* Witch Community: The families belonging to the same coven act as members of one big family, so there's the French Quarter witches, the Tremé witches, the Versailles witches and so on. Typically each coven manages its business in a certain part of the city, respecting the borders established by the division into districts, but some matters require to collaborate, so the Elders of each coven meet with the Regent to discuss policies to be implemented, especially when it is required to interact with other factions; humans, vampires, and werewolves, respectively.

## Traditions and Policies

A coven acts as a large organization or an extended family, offering support and protection to its members, but it's also administered by strict rules of conduct that lead to severe punishment those who transgress the rules, especially among New Orleans covens. Sometimes it is possible that within the same coven there are factions with different agenda. This may be caused by personal motivations and beliefs, feuds or personal gain. However, one of the tasks of Elders and Regent is to keep peace among the witch community members. A conspiracy against superior ranks can lead to hanging.

The most terrible punishment that a witch can undergo is to be shunned via a ritual that is implemented only in severe circumstances when a witch is guilty of serious crimes, such as plotting the killing of other witches. When the guilty witch also happens to be Regent, the witch is forced to renounce the leadership role. Since the shunned witch is cast out from the witch community, it's possible the same rule applies to the Elders as well. For New Orleans witches who suffer from mental issues or are guilty of the crime of practicing dark or forbidden magic, the sentence is to be locked in the Fauline Asylum, where they are constantly sedated in order to suppress their magical power.

A tradition that belongs only to the Gemini Coven, a coven located in Portland, Oregon, was to elect their leader through a deadly ritual, known as The Merge, where the twin children of the current leader would merge their magic and the stronger twin would absorb the magic from the weaker twin, as well as character traits, gaining full leadership of the coven from the previous leader.

## Known Covens

* Tlanta Coven
* Snow Coven
* Conri's Bloodline Coven
* Danae's Bloodline Coven
* Letter's Coven

## Leaders

Danae TlantaConri TlantaNixie SnowDiana Winchester
## Trivia

* The word "coven" was originally a late medieval Scots word (circa 1500) meaning a gathering of any kind according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It derives from the Latin root word "convenire" meaning "to come together" or "to gather", which also gave rise to the English word convene. In modern English, the word "coven" has as its primary meaning "a gathering of witches", more rarely of vampires (who usually go by the name of clan).
* Traditionally, there are thirteen witches in a coven: one leader, and twelve members.
	+ The term "coven" was originally created to give a name to a group of witches, but at present, the term is also used for a group of vampires, as well as "clan" and "den."
* Covens in the past are led by the Reagent, who is the healer of the coven and is the matriarch of the coven, who both protects and leads the coven, as well as exudes authority and makes the sacrifices to the coven's ancestors.
	+ Danae Tlanta, the most recent Reagent of the Tlanta Coven has changed the way that the Reagent takes up their role, as she is both the Reagent of her coven, and the sire of her Bloodline.