The Silver Council
The Silver Council consists of the most powerful and influential leaders from the various companies that exist all over the city. They rarely agree unanimously on anything and it's said that the only thing that moves slower than the they do is The Great Tree. The one exception to this glacia is anything to do with The Great Tree and it's resources, specifically its uses outside the city, and here the council is united against exporting any of the raw materials to keep their stranglehold on magical item creation.
New laws are created by deliberation of the council itself, these deliberations can take weeks to finally resolve even though the council is a relatively small governing body. This is due to the complex and differing viewpoints of those on the council and thus policy enactment can seem to move at a glacial pace. The existing laws of Arbor are also debated and are interpreted by the lower courts creating precedents that other courts may use to justify guilt or innocence. The main purpose of the council though is to ensure that resources of the Great Tree are allocated in a way that most benefits Arbor and it's citizens. What actually happens are a series of backroom deals, bribery, extortion and in rare cases murder.
There are three tiers of court within Arbor and together they handle both the civil and criminal disputes within Arbor. The Silver Council is the highest court and the creator of the laws. They have the final say in any cases that may be appealed at their doors. The Silver Council then oversees the other two tiers, with a responisibility to appoint members to both.
Enforcement of the laws within Arbor is delegated to a number of groups depending on where and what is being affected. For issues involving The Great Tree or it's resources The Great Tree Workers are the primary company that is called in to action. In cases of issues involving the citizenry The Green Cloaks are tasked with keeping the peace and enforcing the laws of Arbor. Finally The Silver Cloaks are tasked with items that are direct council business. What that means is open to interpretation and in the days before steam they were used as assassins, killers and thugs to enforce the councils will, a practice that may still continue.
The silver council in their ivory towers sit so far above the poor and downtrodden that most don't even know who makes up the council or what they do, too worried about where their next meal is coming from to pay any attention to the machinations of those far above their station. The only mention of the Council is in when they step in to break apart a Company that threatens their power, setting an example for the rest and occasionally citing reasons such as worker safety to bring the population to their side. In real terms their lives are controlled by the Company heads more so than the official government of Arbor.
The emerging class takes note of who controls them and really runs things in Arbor. They perceive them as mostly ineffectual, greedy and self serving, which is true 9/10 times. Some more ambitious members of this class might have designs on one day becoming a member of this vaunted group but most will never make it,\ instead the attempt taking it's toll ruining more than one life in the process.
For those in the richest parts of society the Silver council is either regarded as something to aspire to be or a thing that gets in the way of greater profits. In this way the privileged class are far more aware of who the silver council is, what they do and most importantly how they can use them to get what they all truly want. Many of the upper class have ties to people on the council either through family, business or more nefarious means.
"The council controls everything in the city, from root to crown as they say..."
-Pickpocket Filtwick "Whiskers" Black
Public Agenda:
The Silver Council is responsible for any major decisions regarding The Great Tree and it's resources. They allocate them to various companies and factions to make sure that everyone has a piece of what they need or what they want. Any requests for resources must go through them and thus most of the great wealth of the city flows through the council and it's members. The council is also responsible for maintaining the military of the city to keep invaders and others from making attempts at taking what is rightfully theirs. They settle disputes between companies ensuring that there are no overt hostilities, though everything up to that point is mostly fair game including a few assassinations here and there. The Silver Council is also responsible for much of the cities civic infrastructure like police, fire, and medical services. Each of these are managed by their own factions, some of which have seats on the Silver Council.Legislation
New laws are created by deliberation of the council itself, these deliberations can take weeks to finally resolve even though the council is a relatively small governing body. This is due to the complex and differing viewpoints of those on the council and thus policy enactment can seem to move at a glacial pace. The existing laws of Arbor are also debated and are interpreted by the lower courts creating precedents that other courts may use to justify guilt or innocence. The main purpose of the council though is to ensure that resources of the Great Tree are allocated in a way that most benefits Arbor and it's citizens. What actually happens are a series of backroom deals, bribery, extortion and in rare cases murder.
Judgement
There are three tiers of court within Arbor and together they handle both the civil and criminal disputes within Arbor. The Silver Council is the highest court and the creator of the laws. They have the final say in any cases that may be appealed at their doors. The Silver Council then oversees the other two tiers, with a responisibility to appoint members to both.
The Root Court
As the lowest court in Arbor, the Root Court handles issues at a Branch level taking cases that need to be adjudicated quickly. There are 15 Root Courts in total spread out across Arbor.The Crown Court
The middle court takes cases that affect an entire ring and complex criminal cases. There are 3 Crown Courts, one for each of the rings of the city.Enforcement
Enforcement of the laws within Arbor is delegated to a number of groups depending on where and what is being affected. For issues involving The Great Tree or it's resources The Great Tree Workers are the primary company that is called in to action. In cases of issues involving the citizenry The Green Cloaks are tasked with keeping the peace and enforcing the laws of Arbor. Finally The Silver Cloaks are tasked with items that are direct council business. What that means is open to interpretation and in the days before steam they were used as assassins, killers and thugs to enforce the councils will, a practice that may still continue.
Public Perception
Lower Class
The silver council in their ivory towers sit so far above the poor and downtrodden that most don't even know who makes up the council or what they do, too worried about where their next meal is coming from to pay any attention to the machinations of those far above their station. The only mention of the Council is in when they step in to break apart a Company that threatens their power, setting an example for the rest and occasionally citing reasons such as worker safety to bring the population to their side. In real terms their lives are controlled by the Company heads more so than the official government of Arbor.
Middle Class
The emerging class takes note of who controls them and really runs things in Arbor. They perceive them as mostly ineffectual, greedy and self serving, which is true 9/10 times. Some more ambitious members of this class might have designs on one day becoming a member of this vaunted group but most will never make it,\ instead the attempt taking it's toll ruining more than one life in the process.
Upper Class
For those in the richest parts of society the Silver council is either regarded as something to aspire to be or a thing that gets in the way of greater profits. In this way the privileged class are far more aware of who the silver council is, what they do and most importantly how they can use them to get what they all truly want. Many of the upper class have ties to people on the council either through family, business or more nefarious means.
History:
The silver council began as rAn early prototype lots of work left to do but soon to hit our shop in a range of colours, hope people like it!eligious organization that sought to protect the tree and cherish it. Every seat on it was occupied by a person who had the church's approval or was a member of the church themselves. However during that era the Silver Council was more of a token gesture and any real decisions were handed down by the Church hierarchy. This was not to last and the Church, through a series of descisions, ceeded much of their control including the rights to allocate resources to the Silver Council. Following this, members of the clergy were replaced with influential businessmen, politicians and guild leaders. This change was so gradual that few could pinpoint the exact date of the full takeover, even those who were directly involved.Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:
When attending meetings or speaking to the public, members of the silver council wear long silver ceremonial robes. Other than this, anything goes though a particular tradition is that any guards or protectors accompanying a member wears a badge of office to mark them as belonging to that individual to prevent any confusion.Structure and Hierarchy:
The total size of the council is Relatively rigid at this point in history. The total number of seats on the council sits at 13 though there is nothing technically stopping a 14th being added. In order for someone to join the Silver Council a fee must be collected from the prospective member payable to the city itself. This fee is determined by taking the current number of seats on the council and taking the exponential of 100 to that number. The amount of Leaves currently required is therefore quite astronomical but still in the realms of possibility for some of the richest members of society.
Notable People:
- Lucius Columbus Fleming (The Green Cloaks Commissioner)
- Amalthea (The Great Tree Workers Sidhe)
- Dahlia Darknoll (Tree-Wrights Guild Master)
- Linnea III (The Order of the Fallen Leaves Head Gardener)
- Velera (Factory Bosses Arbiter of Production)
- Ezmerelda Omaris Boss of Food Processing and Production)
- Noah Decker (The Dockers Representative of the Union of Longshoreman)
- Wila Goldfoot (The Iron Hands Owner of the Iron Hands)
- Wenret Goldfoot (The Davey Lamps Owner of the Davey Lamps)
- Arashi Katai (The Pipemen Creator of Star Light and Leader of the Pipemen)
- Andrea Moonheart (Hand Weavers and Spinners Guild First Thread Leader of the guild)
- Ava Isolde Sterling and Clara Maxie Sterling (The Gilded Leaders share one seat)
- The Golden Man (Liason to the Merchants of Arbor)
Location:
The silver council is located within The Great Tree itself. Nestled in one of the lowest branches is a large building constructed out of Great Tree Bark which makes the building nearly impervious to attack and divination magics, and therefore a perfect place to conduct sensitive business and matters of state.
Founding Date
Year 0
Capital
Government System
Plutocracy
Location
Controlled Territories
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