Pipes' How I (personally) would expand the Covey (with an especial eye to the pre-Dark Days lore)
I don’t like the Covey. That much is open – I enjoy the idea, but I think the implementation is poor.
Lets start with the idea. Yes, I can completely support the idea of smaller groups outside Panem being effectively herded in to prevent the spread of culture beyond borders – were I Ravenstill, I’d be doing the same. Ditto prohibition of inter-District movement, because that just makes so much sense. But, how did the Covey move in the first place? Days after days of walking in the forest would bring some terrible casualty rates, where historical traveller groups would take the roads.
Fix 1: Roads. These would likely move alongside rivers in the upcountry Appalachians, so for grouping’s sake I will call them the River Roads. From District 12 (Which I place around Morgantown WV), there are three likely roads that could exist and be contiguous with what we know of Panem. The Nine Road, running along the Ohio River, would allow travellers to reach a system along the Mississippi. The Coast Road, running as the name suggests to the coast, would best serve along the Potomac, reaching isolated communities. The South Road, going across West Virginia to the James River, would then allow them to reach the Piedmont plain and with it much of Northern Eleven. These, combined with a road contiguous with the former Appalachian trail, would allow 12 to be an effective hub for traffic, further explaining why a pre-Dark Days Capitol decided that would be the centre of a new District.
Secondly, we need to address the actual function of the Covey. Serving as entertainment is one thing, but it’s also relatively worrying – any issue comes up, and you’re left destitute. The travelling populations of entertainers were too often the outsiders in real culture, similar would be likely in Panem.
Besides, singing on its own? Well, a local can do that – just requires a good voice and a stage.
No, I do think the Covey were more than that. Singing is one thing, but more than that… entertainment. Puppet shows and plays, the kind of things that couldn’t be done so easily especially in the smaller towns. Comics, who could poke fun at things without going too over the top and breaking bonds held between them and the local populations.
Besides that? Well, what do small places often not have. Specialists. Medicine, smiths, the like. And that’s where, especially in a low technology world, a more vital reason means they won’t be turned away. If the ‘Covey’ offered actual services, then it would be far harder for the people to refuse them.
Fix 2: Expansion of industries. Singing is one thing, but that could be a (relatively) small group within the broader idea of the Covey. Travelling shows (more plays than circus), comics and puppets can provide a more stable entertainment than just singing, and mean that it is more likely they can attract at the least a crowd. Enough to keep them fed, enough to keep them in some kind of health. Besides that, have them provide more specialised professions. Some metal working for smaller places that need it, wood carving for furniture, et cetera. Allow the Covey to actually diversify their economic position, and in a moment they become a lot more vital to the region.
And besides. There are a couple of other things at which they can excel. For one, as a n actual travelling group, they’d be perfect for facilitating smaller trade, especially in Appalachia where ship and air travel is far harder. Load the gold, or tobacco, or whatever it is into a Covey wagon, they take it where it needs to go, take a cut of the profits, and then head back to you. Especially if the Covey isn’t a single group but a collection of groups, it makes enough sense that you’d be watching them traverse their region of Panem, and transporting trade goods and money with them.
Which leads nicely into Fix 3.5 (Fix 3 being facilitation of trade). They could easily be the ones with a local currency. While it’s a given that some form of fiat, representative or commodities currency would likely exist in every urban area, whether they would have a set exchange rate would be an entirely different question. As such, acting as more neutral financiers, the Covey could facilitate the actually exchange of a single traders currency – which then also guarantees them that they can take tips and convert it into one currency to use anywhere, as opposed to carrying two or three dozen currencies.
Backwards a bit, towards travel. Because how are they getting around, if not by horse. The Covey make so much more… bounce, and gain an extra little connection to the likely Romani inspiration, if rather than being a bedraggled troupe of road-weary singers they can arrive in brightly-coloured carts, let everyone know the Covey’s here. It feels so much more in line with the flourish, and while not not touched on, it feels like the kind of touch that would be very Covey, and so out of place within Panem that it adds to their general aura and vibes of being an other.
Language! I don’t think they’d have an entirely different language, because. Well, they’re still in Panem, and I‘d expect English-derivatives would be the dominant language in the region they’re in even in the post-American period. What I do have more of an issue with is how normal it is.
Fix 5: A specific trader tongue. Derived from the fact that the Covey encounters all sorts of towns and doesn’t want to confuse, they kind of melange in words and phrases from just about anywhere they visit. It adds a bit more character to them, and adds to the general cultural isolation of the Covey. Nobody can fully understand them. They’re able to be mostly understood, but use enough different words that it adds a little more to the isolation, and given that words can then be passed from group to group when they interact (i.e different words passing from Ohio Valley Covey to Appalachian Covey) they’re further othered.
Now, onto the actual culture, because again the Covey feel too normalized in 12. I think what I would have loved to see, especially with SOTR, is why they were isolated. I’ll offer a few examples, but make up your own – my views on the Covey aren’t be all and end all XD
- Marriage: I’d expect something to do with birds. A feather cloak feels overdone even given my Panem loves a cloak, but putting feathers in hair for prep feels very Covey! Besides that, no rings, and no vows – I’d expect a song, but singing isn’t their whole culture. Invite everyone in the town you’re staying in also sounds very Covey!
- Food: Long lasting. I’d not expect perishables be common, save for fruit they can acquire and meat ditto A lot of jerkies, harder breads, etc – the kind of thing you can eat while on the road. Also entirely my own bias, but I love the idea of a specific Covey brew of alcohol – a beer/lager that they’re famed for. Also, I think the eternal soups feel very them (new stuff is added and removed but it’s the same soup – just keep dumping new stuff in and taking bowls of soup out). How they keep it heating – idk, probably just cooked in a special cart.
- Death: Leave the body. Morbid as hell, but Covey death in general I see as a celebration of life thing. You’re buried in 12 because that’s the law, but usually a dead Covey member would be left on a mountain – somewhere they can be free. When they get to the next town, then they can do a proper celebration of life!
- Naming: Dual naming is fun, but I do think it should be different. If you’re a singer (a la the Bairds and Clades), then sure, you have a ballad/colour. For others, it could be different – a way to differentiate what that Covey member is there for. I.e Smiths could have names like Terry Tin, Steve Steel – alliterative and metal related. Puppeteers could always pop puppet based names – Punch, Judy, etc. Two tiered names that relate to the industry they’re in in general just feels like a very fun, very Covey way of doing things!
- Birth: Birth is likely tried to be done in towns. I can see them doing a lot to name the child after they’re born – waiting, giving the child gifts. All the nice things that they can offer.
Outside of culture, I think the Covey need to be more… spread. Morgantown 12 took some in, but I want them to be dozens of confined groups. Eleven has a Covey offshoot in every other tow, Nine has a couple permitted to travel. I want them to be the kind of group that exists in more than just the BOSAS Six and Lenore Dove. I want to be aware of the Covey. And that brings me to the final point.
That they should have been… more. That I don’t like that there wasn’t more of them, and I think there should have been some outsized cultural impact unrelated to Katniss and co. Still, well. I think six fixes is enough, so those will be my six (and a .5th) for now!
To close, these are my thoughts
Fix 1: An actual way for them to get around (river adjacent roads)
Fix 2: Expansion of their industries from singing to general entertainment and specialist services.
Fix 3: The use of the Covey as trade facilitators in the broader region
Fix 3.5: The use of a trader’s currency to facilitate their travel and spending anywhere they go
Fix 4: They travelled by painted wagon and horse in the before because please
Fix 5: A specific trader tongue
Fix 6: An actual culture!
Part 2, because I do have more, coming soon :D
