Re: Building the covenant
Players 4 and 11, my mage would probably fit well with the two of yours. We're all looking at different varieties of summoning, so there is a fair amount of fit there. We'd be split between jinn, Terram, a ghosts, so different things but a fair amount of commonality. Also, there would be two native Arabic speakers.
Player 4, it's worth noting that my position on Summoning and Chthonic Magic v. Spirit Familiar was changed a little while ago. Having reread Spirit Familiar after hearing arguments both ways, I found all it actually does is allow you to bond with a spirit. The special Cords are a result of bonding with a spirit, not of the Virtue. So those Cords should apply if you bind to a spirit via Summoning or Chthonic Magic. Of course, the latter would be for a demon, so that would be a big no-no for other reasons. ;) Also, since the Terrae Cult's Summoning changes spirits to Terram-aligned stuff, you could form a Familiar Bond with something else, such as an earth elemental. So if you do get that version of Summoning, you may not want to bother picking up Spirit Familiar; but the latter is still working picking up if you don't get the former.