Aabelon
The Aabelon (pronounced /eɪˈæbəlɒn/ or /ˈæbəlɒn/) is one of the sorcerous covins that act as important power brokers on the world of Curcalen. The Aabelon deal in various ways with inanimate objects: they create talismans that are not obviously invested; they bring objects to life; and they turn living things into inanimate objects—both in such a way as to leave them with consciousness and motility, and fully eremistically. The Aabelon is in some ways among the most subtle of the covins, many of its members filling menial positions and seeming to be simple serfs and laborers. They do exercise a significant influence on Curcalish politics, however, and are able to insidiarily manipulate events.
Origin of name
A number of contradictory accounts are bandied about regarding the origin of the name of the Aabelon. It has been variously linked to the Ripuarian aabelange, meaning roughly "effect", with the rationale that the founders of the Aabelon chose a name to emphasize the influence they hoped to have over the world; the Galician abalan, meaning "they rock", representing the covin's desire to shake up the world; the Orthandi a'abalin, meaning "below the root", because the Aabelon concerns itself with the lowly and overlooked; the Lozi abelani, meaning "to share", because the Aabelon want to share the experience of their surroundings; or the Yumish aabelaano, meaning "unadorned", because the Aabelon want to understand what things truly are beneath superficial trappings. There have also been claims that the name derives from an acronym in some language or another ("The August Association for Better Environmental, Locational, and Objectual Noemics" being one English supposed expansion).
Most etymologists, however, find none of these proposals convincing, or even plausible, and true origin of the name remains a mystery. It is of course entirely possible that was an arbitrary coinage chosen simply for purposes of euphony, or that it was a now irrecoverable referent to something long forgotten, in which case any attempt to discover its meaning is necessarily doomed to failure.
Philosophy and goals
The initial goal of the Aabelon was understanding—not so much a broad understanding of the larger world as aspired to by the Wayfarer's Union, but a more intimate understanding of one's immediate surroundings. From this grew the Aabelon's interest in inanimate objects; know every rock, cloud, and clump of dirt around you, and you have a true comprehension of how the world works. As the covin grew in power and resources, it developed spells along this theme to bring these objects to life, or transform people into objects, and soon the further study and perfection of these spells consumed many members of the covin, and like most of the major covins of Curcalen it drifted from its original purpose.
Still, even today the Aabelon retains some of its interest in the small scale and the overlooked, as it tends to champion the interests of the ignobility. Of course, it does not do so out of purely altruistic motives; the leaders of the Aabelon covet power as much as those of any of the covins, and they certainly hope to gain the people's favor as a means to that power. Nevertheless, their concern for the common man is not entirely inauthentic; more so than any other covin, even the supposedly benevolent Broken Shield, the Aabelon truly does do things to better the lot of the lower classes.
Organization
The Aabelon is divided into twenty-five cells, though the distinction between the cells is unclear; they are not all defined geographically (though some cells are confined to specific geographical areas), nor are they all defined by their rôle within the organization (though some cells do specialize in particular pursuits). The cells each do in principle have a particular platform and a slightly different philosophy, but in most cases the distinctions between the cells' principles are minor and unpronounced. Often a member of the Aabelon simply allies themself with whichever cell their friends belong to.
The Aabelon is the only major covin that elects its leadership by direct democracy. The leader of the Aabelon, called the Great Coördinator, is elected for a five-year term. The Great Coördinator does not have complete authority over the covin, however, but shares power with the Great Committee, a body comprising three representatives from each of the Aabelon's cells, elected by that cell's members. Members of the Committee serve three-year terms, staggered so that each cell elects one committee member per year. The Committee is led by a chairperson who is elected by the committee members and who is almost equal in power to the Great Coördinator; this Great Chair, however, is elected for only a one-year term. In practice, the incumbent Great Coördinator is almost always reëected when their turn is up, and the position seldom vacated except by their death, whereupon the current Great Chair becomes the Great Coördinator for the remainder of the five-year term (and a new Great Chair is elected by the committee). Turnover among the Great Committee members is only slightly more frequent; it is the position of the Great Chair that is most volatile, with Great Chairs serving for an average of only three or four years—though longer stays in the position, while infrequent, have occurred.
Currently, the Great Coördinator of the Aabelon is a Dowadian named Olomom Jja, who has been in the position for only two years but is enormously popular. Jja is still relatively young, and if nothing occurs to change their popularity they may retain the title for many years yet. The current Great Chair is a bony man named Ruzion Ce'Reai, who belongs to the Matterpot Cell and has a reputation as one of the most powerful mages of the covin.
Headquarters
The Aabelon has bases of operation all over Curcalen, but the majority are unobtrusive and not easy to find. Most of the Aabelon's local headquarters appear to be old shacks, rundown shops, and other small, humble buildings. They are fersively enchanted to be much larger on the inside than their exterior dimensions—though in most cases the interiors, while capacious, are not particularly ornate, the décor sparse and utilitarian. In any case, in general the only ways to recognize one of these Aabelon bases are either through powerful means of dispection or by actually venturing inside.
There are a few Aabelon headquarters, however, which are larger and more noticeable. One of the largest is the World Market in Cacaral, a gigantic farmer's market where vendors come from all over Curcalen through portals placed for that purpose. It is something of an open secret that the World Market is operated by the Aabelon, and that they often set up meetings there and manipulate events to their ends. An even more overt Aabelon front is the Eyrie, an isolated mountaintop campus where the covin runs a boarding school of sorts where it teaches magic, martial arts, and natural history, among other subjects. While students at the Eyrie are not required to join or support the covin, the Aabelon does have considerable success in recruiting from their number.
Unlike most other covins, the Aabelon does not have any overall main headquarters. Nor does the Great Coördinator have an official residence; they typically just stay in the same homes as they had before. The closest thing the covin has to a central location is the meetinghouse of the Great Committee, and even this changes every year. Their current meetingplace is a disused theater in Arvalon that they rent for the purpose; they refer to it by its original name, still posted on a sign above the door, however currently inappropriate: the House of Wonder.
Magic
Like all the covins of Curcalen, the Aabelon has created many of their own spells and talismans that reflect their particular worldview and interests. This means principally spells and talismans that deal with inanimate objects, and especially with animation and eremization, though they also have developed some magics that further their ends toward bettering the lot of the common person.
Despite the Aabelon's reputation for subtlety, some of the magics they have developed are anything but subtle. Some of their flashiest spells include "megallage", which can change a human or comparable creature into something as large and complex as a castle, and "grand animation", which, conversely, animates something comparatively large and complex—or even more so—into an entire ecosystem of symbiotic organisms. But they have, of course, developed less spectacular spells as well, including "realize the soul", which turns a human or other living being into an object that is supposed to in some sense reflect the subject's mind and personality (according to some arcane criteria set by the spell's creator); "material contagion", which ylifies the subject into whatever material happens to be in contact with most of the surface area of their body; "pauper's feast", which renders unlikely objects edible and nutritious; "still speech", which allows the caster to communicate with inanimate objects (and bestows upon those objects a mind and memory to make the communication meaningful); and "inhabitation", which lets the caster "possess" an object (and have motility according to the object's shape and materials).
Among the best known talismans created by the Aabelon are the nookery door, a small wooden square that can be placed against any object of sufficient size to create an entrance to a chamber within; the hooded crown, which when placed on any object causes people to treat that object as if it were a living person; and the virtue bag, which transforms any object put inside it (including living creatures) into a small, portable sort of statuette.
Relations
The Aabelon keeps a low enough profile that it does not have any real enemies among the other covins. There has been some friction with the Velvet Mask because of accusations of their having stolen some of the Aabelon's magics, but it has never led to serious conflict. Perhaps the covin with which the Aabelon has the most strained relations is the Bit and Basket, though there's no concrete reason for this, beyond perhaps the Bit and Basket's elitist attitude.
In general, the Aabelon tends to get along well with Dhaol Dwr, perhaps because of the two covins' shared antiauthoritarian tendencies. They are also friendly toward Braleigh's Brotherhood, which, like the Aabelon, pays attention to the lowly things that others might overlook.