Overview

Circle House is a ring-built sanctum tuned to Baltimore’s ley seams. It looks like a well-kept family home: bay windows, climbing roses, and a tidy hedge. Inside, thresholds layer protection, hospitality, and consent magic. Work here is quiet, witnessed, and written down—never theatrical, never on camera.

Maxim (over the hearth): “Name it rightly. Feed it properly. Dismiss it clean.”

Primary Wards & Spirits

• Threshold Weave: every door/window holds a consent check (spoken name + touch of copper). Refuses hostile intent, slows liars.
• Hearth Compact: the kitchen fire binds hospitality—no violence while tea is poured; breaching it burns luck for a month.
• Moon Room Anchor: attuned to sky-tide; stabilises circles, dampens backlash, and stores excess charge in the garden posts.
• Garden Posts (Seven): spirit posts around the back ring—milk, bread, salt, copper offerings keep house spirits kindly.
• Veil Mesh: sound/attention baffle stitched through curtains and picture rails—keeps neighbours at “polite ignorance”.

Layout & Key Rooms

Ground Floor

• Front Parlour (“The Reading”): client intake; low chairs; ancestor shelf; bell pull for a Warden witness.
• Kitchen & Hearth: kettle, bread board, herb drying lines; hospitality circle inlaid under the table.
• Back Veranda: covered stoop facing the ringed garden; rain chimes double as ward tell-tales.

First Floor

• Moon Room: chalkable oak floor with brass inlay (seven points); skylight with blackout shutter; ledger desk locked.
• Charm Bench: oils, inks, pins, bone needles; labelled drawers; fume hood; “no open flame” placard.
• Library Nook: city maps with ley overlays; oath forms; a drawer of white gloves and pencils.

Cellar (Warded)

• Sealed Book Cupboard: ironwood cabinet; two-key protocol (Elder + Warden of Names); sign-in required.
• Quiet Room: salt line, water jug, blankets; for shakings, grief, or post-rite recovery.
• Herb Pantry: labelled jars; red-tag shelf for restricted botanicals; scales and logbook.

Garden

• Seven Posts Ring: offerings ledge at each point (dawn milk, dusk bread/salt, quarter-days copper).
• Circle Lawn: mown ring kept clear for outdoor workings; rain barrel and ash pit for safe disposal.
• Alley Gate: iron latch; chime that only Wardens hear; emergency egress for guests under escort.

Access & Schedules

• Open Hours: Thu 18:00–21:00 (community tea); otherwise by invitation or petition slip.
• Witness Rule: any binding/banishing requires a Warden witness; names written in the ledger before chalk goes down.
• Guest Tokens: copper house-tokens are issued to vetted allies; expire at season’s end; non-transferable.
• Cross-Faction Courtesy: no rites during Free Court salons; no circles audible from Iron Belt tracks; no mist visible from Lodge slips; no activity within an hour of Crimson Harbour feeding windows.

House Protocol

On Arrival

• Knock once, speak your full name, touch the copper plate. Wait to be invited across the threshold.
• Offerings tray by the door: bread, milk, or a coin of copper. No blood, no bones, no iron filings.

During Workings

• Phones in the tea tin; cameras off the premises. Pencils only in the Moon Room.
• Do not break chalk, salt, thread, or line. If you must step out, a Warden will lift a segment.
• Costs declared before the first mark; ledger signed; witness bell rung.

Aftercare

• Water, salt biscuit, and seat in the Quiet Room for any guest who shook or bled.
• Dismiss spirits aloud, feed the posts, close the book. No one leaves on a backlash.

Security & Fail-Safes

• Backlash Drain: Moon Room inlay can shunt excess into the garden posts; a blue chime means “hands off until dawn”.
• Iron Thread: a hidden run under skirting boards—interrupts glamours if the Veil tears; resets after a psalm of thanks.
• Guest Hold: parlour chair charm that gently keeps a panicking guest seated; releases on the name “mercy”.
• Meridian Card: a sealed envelope with liaison numbers; opened only if exposure risks spike.

Keepers & Regulars

• Rowan Hale — Elder; holds the house keys and moon-tides.
• Kofi Mensah — Hedge Speaker; talks to the garden like it talks back.
• Evie Tran — Hexwright; runs the charm bench; hates messy cupboards.
• Jabril Stone — Warden of Names; ledger, bell, and the second key.
• Father-of-Cats — Familiar; a house spirit who disfavour cheap incense and open cupboards.

Hooks & Scene Seeds

• The Bell Won’t Ring: The witness bell stays mute before a critical binding—something’s sitting on the line.
• Milk Turns: All seven posts sour their offerings overnight; a neighbour’s new bargain is bleeding into the garden.
• Quiet Room Full: Three frayed petitioners arrive at once; which ward do you raise, and who pays the cost?
• Alley Gate Scratch: Iron shows fresh claw marks; the Lodge swears it wasn’t theirs—follow the chime pattern.
• Ledger Tear: A page is missing from the Sealed Book Cupboard index; the cupboard wasn’t opened. Who has the other key?

GM Notes

• Tone: lived-in sanctity; tea, chalk, and earned trust. Danger = hidden costs and frayed boundaries.
• Capacity: Moon Room safely holds 5–7 in circle; more requires garden ring and extra offerings.
• Complications: neighbours (mortal) with doorbell cameras; courier drops during rites; faction schedules colliding.
• Map Keys: mark posts clockwise (1–7), Moon Room inlay, consent plate, backlash drain, quiet room, alley egress.