Red King's Revenge

Though its location is a well-kept secret, no one who's anyone in New York is unaware that there is a Hermetic Covenant somewhere in the Five Boroughs. Access is strictly controlled: non-Hermetics aren't permitted on site under extremely strict penalties. Most people aren't quite sure what those penalties might be, given that no one is around who has ever tested them.

Outer Appearance
The building looks like a worn-down old mansion. Once there was money here, and it could be restored to something truly beautiful, but whoever owns it isn't doing that and is also not selling to any of the sources of wealth that constantly pour through New York. It'd be a shame, except that the eye just passes over it, letting it blend into the neighborhood however it changes and causing it to seem so unremarkable that it is forgotten as quickly as it is noticed.

Inner Appearance
Though the outside looks run-down, the inside of the Red King's Revenge is spectacular. The mansion has not, in fact, decayed from it's height. Instead, it is a massive complex of rooms both above and below ground. Offices for Covenant officers are on the first floor, though the only one currently occupied is the Deaconship, residences for those who live on-site are on upstairs, along with the library, and laboratories are underground, in the most solid places possible to protect the rest of the Covenant from the inevitable explosions.

Policies
Every member of the Order of Hermes in New York must be a member of the Covenant. If the Deacon summons everyone for defense, not answering to the call is a violation of Hermetic law.

Only members with Chantry background get living space.

Only members with Node background have access to the Enigmatic Circle.

Only members with Sanctum background have their own laboratory.

History
The Red King's Revenge is the oldest settler Chantry in the region. It dates back to the early 17th Century, predating English settlement in the area and having stood almost as long as Jamestown and Plymouth. It has changes hands within the Order many times in its history. It was founded by members of House Criamon as the Domus Aenigmata Mundi for outreach to the Dreamspeakers already established in the area, though relations soured quickly.

House Criamon's control only lasted a few decades before a new Deacon took over, from House Tharsis, the Order's storm mages. The Deacon's control over the winds enriched the Covenant through ties to the trade that passed through the port.

The Covenant was taken over by House Flambeau during the American Revolution and given its current name, but was diminished by choosing the wrong side of the war. This diminishment was somewhat undone when it chose the correct side of the US Civil War.

In 1882, the Covenant was rebuilt, from a small collection of houses into a large mansion capable of housing dozens of mages. Shortly thereafter, House Fortunae came to power, digging underground laboratories and libraries and constantly improving it. During the Great Depression, despite still being a wealthy Covenant, they allowed the exterior to decay as part of a long-term camouflage for the Covenant.

Viribus Mercurius arrived at the end of World War II and managed a bloodless coup bringing the Covenant under his control. Since then, it has focused on being a counterbalance to the Stanev Center for Aerospace Research and to opposing the Technocracy wherever it can. Many believe that its sheer power has several times stopped Pogroms, though they still happened until the Avatar Storm and the Ceasefire.

Under Viribus's rule, though the Covenant is powerful, it has fallen into Winter. It's population has decreased, and few of the powerful mages there are interested much in apprentices.