Council of the Archons

The Council of the Archons is a broadly "democratic" political body that controls the nation of Bal-Morath.

History

The nation of Bal-Morath joined the Empire in the year 166 IC after a protracted conflict that saw it reduced politically, militarily and (most importantly) economically. To pay its many debts King Halames raised taxes far beyond what the populace could maintain which resulted in revolution and, ultimately, his execution.

In the power vacuum that followed the first Council was established but this was hastily assembled and the Noble houses still exerted a great deal of influence. It was a 'Republic' in name only. Most problematic though was the the Empire only wished to deal with the Human residents of Bal-Morath and insisted that the sitting President of the Council be a Human (which also gave House Sarris a de facto 'kingship').

The people were not happy with this arrangement after fighting so hard to throw off the rule of the nobles and turned to the Cult of Orcus. Within 5 years the Cult of Orcus had risen in power, on the back of an ostensibly nationalistic, populist agenda. The people rose up against the nobles a second time and the Cult formed a quasi-religious 'Parliament' in the Summer of 182 IC.

This state lasted for over a decade before the Cult's excesses and true agenda became obvious. With the aid of the Empire the Cult was removed from power and the current Council was established in its place. The new Council is still somewhat open to abuse by the Noble houses but the people are generally happy that such influence is tempered by the large "Assembly" which can transmit the current popular mood to the Council.

Organisation

The current Council is made up of 10 men (or women) who are elected every 5 years by the people of the nation. The individual members of the council are called "Archons" and each comes from a specific geographical region called "Archidemes" (not to be confused with "Archimedes"). Each Archideme has roughly equal number of inhabitants. Hence each Archon represents approximately the same number of people. The role of the council is to enact laws and protect the nation. This is done via a simple majority vote.

The council has a President. This is not strictly necessary for the running of the council but is is a requirement for Imperial matters (as every nation deals with the Emperor through a single representative - usually the monarch of the nation). When the Council votes on a law, the President has a casting vote in the event of a tie.

The position of President goes to each Archideme in turn and lasts five years also. Hence the archideme that is to next hold the presidency has to elect TWO people to the council - the Archon and the President. The other archidemes do NOT vote the president. Until the Cult of Orcus was deposed the position of President had to be filled by a human that was native to Bal-Morath, however that has since been amended to allow a Human or a Tiefling. The role of President may only be held by one person for one term in their life (hence avoiding wealthy individuals moving from archideme to archideme every five years to get re-elected), although there is nothing barring the relatives or close associates of a President holding that role.

The Council nominally reports to an "Assembly of the People" which consists of 500 men or women (50 from each archideme). The Assembly is where all the debates about laws and important affairs take place. Once a matter is debated the Assembly is meant to pass a resolution to vote on to the Council. In practice though the Council often tells the Assembly what the Council intends to vote on and uses the Assembly to gauge popular opinion. Hence the system is only "loosely" democratic - it is, in fact, an elected oligarchy.