Covenant Cards are drawn in the COUNCIL PHASE, they are Councilor Bonuses granted by specific diplomatic type councilors. Covenants are drawn on election.

See the "Councilor Bonuses" and "Covenant Cards" rules

The 6 empty settlements count as 'Opposing Settlements' and can be captured.

See the "Capture" rules in the ACTION PHASE

A settlement is 'Controlled' whether or not it is 'Occupied' by units. The player in control is indicated by their colored Settlement Token. A settlement can be 'Controlled' by one player and 'Occupied' by another if the occupying player does not choose to 'Raze' or 'Capture'.

Once per game and at any time each player can choose to Reform. To do so, return your current Cult Victory Card to the deck, then draw two new Cult Victory Cards and choose one to keep.

Councilors are returned to the Councilor Deck at the end of each round and get reelected in the next COUNCIL PHASE.

Burial Tokens are removed from the board when captured. The capturing player then draws an Omen Card from the Omen Deck.

No. Volley counts as an action. Each unit gets to move and perform one action per turn such as: Attack, Siege, Capture, Raze, or Volley. However, one stack of Archers can split Volley into different hexes during a single turn.

Embezzle actions are triggered by the Embezzle Covenant card. When used on a target player, take that players Cult Token (small round two-color token with the cult symbol in the middle) and place it on your Player Reference Sheet on the round Embezzle slot. You now gain 3 coins from that player every INCOME PHASE until that embezzle action is removed. The Embezzle card is returned to the deck after it is played.

See the Embezzle card itself or the INCOME PHASE section