The Council of Sails

When the Khajari rebuilt after the Veiled Wave, they faced an immediate question: who decides when every dry foothold is precious and every hull is literally vital? The survivors combined two pre-Wave traditions - the Navigator’s Moot (captain-elections held each monsoon) and the Shamanic Tide Circle - into a single, five-seat body. Thus the Council of Sails was born, committed to balancing hard logistics of skyrunner life with the elemental covenant that keeps those vessels aloft.

Composition

Seat	Title	Chosen By	Term	Core Mandate
1	North Sail	Fisherfolk and reef-harvesters	3 years	Food security, lagoon rights
2	East Sail	Trade captains and artisans	3 years	Commerce, foreign relations
3	South Sail	Scouts, cartographers, and salvage crews	3 years	Exploration, chart maintenance
4	West Sail	Militia skippers and sky-wardens	3 years	Defense, anti-piracy, safety drills
5	Voice of Khesura	Chosen by the shaman conclave, approved by Khesura herself	Life tenure (until abdication or elemental disfavor)	Spiritual stewardship of the air-pact

Four are called Navigators, symbolised by feather-etched driftwood staves bound in coloured cord. The Voice carries a translucent conch that resonates with thunder when Khesura listens.

Election & Ritual

Nomination Tide: During high-moon in Windswell month, each constituency submits two nominees.
Driftballot: Floating reed tablets bearing candidate seals are set adrift in a circular cistern; voters push their chosen tablet toward a central drain. The first to reach the vortex "wins the tide."
Feather Binding: Newly elected navigators knot a fresh sky-feather to their stave, swear never to bear slaves, and taste a sip of moon-salt water to remember the cost of failure.

Council Duties

Route Allocation – Assigns skyrunner flotillas to fishing grounds, Zaxi salvage runs, or Dashani trade lanes, ensuring no craft over-harvests a resource stream.
Pact Maintenance – Coordinates seasonal Tithe of Voices and investigates any breach that might crack a feather-rune.
Crisis Helm – Declares High Gust (martial readiness) if Hanese warships, Dashani militias, or skybeasts threaten the archipelago.
Judgement Squall – Hears disputes; sentences range from reef service to temporary exile on ‘quiet cloud’ platforms.
Elemental Liaison – The Voice communes with Khesura; when her moods shift, the Council drafts policy accordingly (e.g., grounding fleets during "breathless days" when the elemental craves silence).

Current Office-Holders

Seat	Name & Epithets	Notable Traits
North Sail	Aneko Pearl-Wake	Gruff matriarch, lost an arm to a sand shark - wears a hook of mirror-bird bone.
East Sail	Verris Sky-Ledger	Ex-corsair turned meticulous quartermaster; secretly tutors Dashani refugees in navigation.
South Sail	Mira Tideglance	Youngest ever navigator (27), famed for mapping the Zaxi Flux Geysers.
West Sail	Rauk Gnarl-Wing	Veteran of reef skirmishes; advocates tighter patrols against Han spies.
Voice of Khesura	Shaman Telesa Cloud-Seer	Silver-eyed oracle; during trance her hair levitates like storm wisps. Speaks in plural pronouns when channelling the elemental.

Internal Dynamics

Rauk vs. Verris: West and East Sails regularly clash - Rauk wants armed escorts on every trade run; Verris fears militarising skyrunners will invite Han retaliation.
Aneko & Mira Alliance: Food security and exploration cooperate closely: Aneko funds Mira’s scouting in exchange for new fishing coordinates.
Telesa’s Veto: The Voice rarely exercises her right to overrule, but when Khesura’s thunder echoes through the conch, even stubborn navigators fall silent.

Relationship with External Powers

Dashan: The Council sells storm-crab chitin to both theocratic clergy and rebel militias, walking a razor’s edge of neutrality. East Sail brokers cargo swaps, while West Sail runs blockades to avoid Dashani patrols. The Voice insists aid to fleeing pacifists fulfils the "feather of true freedom."
Zaxi: South Sail champions salvaging expeditions, but the Council limits weekly sorties lest unstable relics overrun the Isles. They maintain a "vault of quiet lights" for quarantined artefacts, guarded by militia crews under West Sail’s watch.
Veiled Republic (Han): Officially a tense trade partner; North Sail pushes for grain imports, West Sail eyes every Han envoy as a potential saboteur. The Council keeps House Pharos petitions at arm’s length, suspecting a second tidal weapon.

Public Perception

Most Khajari view the Council as storm-tested but human: praise flows when new fishing grounds prosper, grumbling grows when feather-runes crack. Children carve toy staves to play "Navigator’s Moot," while elders gossip that Telesa’s hair has begun to sparkle with distant lightning - a sign, perhaps, that Khesura expects greater offerings.
GM info / spoilers / plot hooks.

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