can you explain the central/western/etc circle stuff for someone that wasn't here at the time?
The circles were essentially different schools of (read: approaches to) magic. They went off and did their own things in their own ways. Blood magic, Witchery, etc.
The Central Circle was the legal arbiter group responsible for keeping the others in check and ensuring they didn't do anything god awful, like entrusting their post to nature's slowest bird or assigning classrooms by blood lineage. They didn’t have a traditional central headquarters so much as a huge assemblage of indoor areas connected by portals and magic doorways.
Unfortunately the Witch metaphorically took over the Central Circle shortly after escaping their imprisonment, paralysing the gears of justice and allowing the other circles to get away with basically whatever with no idea why they weren't getting caught by the wizard cops.
