Ducal Council

The Ducal Council is the head of the Grand Vailian Government, consisting of seven dukes that get elected every four years by the groups they represent. While they nominally all wield the same power, their influence tends to correspond with the power of their faction, leading to the Merchant Duke usually being the most powerful.

The Seven Dukes

The identity of the dukes - except for the Governor- is kept secret from the public to ensure their safety and to enable them to act as more of a shadow council. As such, they are mainly known by the faction that sponsors them.

The Merchant Duke

Sponsored by the Merchant Guild, this duke is mainly concerned with the wealth of their patrons and is traditionally the one pushing most for radical reforms. While originally only tasked with ensuring a favourable situation for the powerful merchants, successive legislations have muddied the definition of their duties to a point where it can be interpreted as nigh anything.
Having little formal training in managing anything other than a business, this duke is known for empowering the merchant lords while stripping away the power of the lower class, making them rather unpopular with the serfs, yet most freemen hold them in high regard in the hopes that they too will rise to the upper class.

The Governor

The Duke sponsored by the Vailian Trading Company is also the grand governor of its colonies. While he acts very akin to an absolute ruler in his domain, within the council he may only rule over matters concerning the overseas territories, all other concerns of the VTC have to be delegated to the Merchant Duke instead.
This role is currently held by Aldert van Geen, the offspring of an old noble line that has bankrolled many expansions of the VTC - with great return of investment. It is said that he is discontent with the rest of the council and the overall dealings of mainland Vailia, leading to the colonies overall growing a little unruly.

The General

The General is responsible for the military reforms and large scale military actions performed by the Vailian Army. Their electors make sure to pick someone uninterested in politics who is solely focused on advancing his and the army's goals, making them hard to negoatiate with for the other Dukes. This is done by the general staff to ensure their continued autonomy and to prevent their armies from being used for the shenanigans of the other Dukes.
While most other dukes tend to get re-elected every cycle, the General swaps rather often in a further attempt to combat corruption and nepotism.

The Admiral

This duke's main goal is to secure funds for new ships and assigning them to the various factions that vie for it while at the same time ensuring that the navy can still be assembled within a reasonable amount of time in the case of a crisis. Despite what his name might suggest, they are not in fact a trained captain or even sailor, but rather a classically trained administrator.

The Diplomat

Sponsored by the diplomacy corps, they are often quiet when it comes to internal affairs, yet will speak up in an effort to prevent angering other nations. What little initiative they take usually involves new diplomatic missions like embassies or to make a case for taking in or denying political refugees.
They are nicknamed as the 'Infernal Diplomat' due to the ever stronger growing ties with the New Republic during their reign. Some accuse them of actually being bribed by them, yet most concur that it is a simple matter of business.

The Freeman Duke

This is the only duke not elected from within the upper class. They were originally meant to represent the freemen within the council, yet it soon became apparent that the freemen themselves had too many different interests to be effectively represented by a single entity, and as such his focus shifted towards the cities and population centers. As such, they started pushing for reforms in welfare and sanitation within Vailia's population centers, leading to many Vailians viewing them as an anti-thesis to the Merchant Duke.
Their electorate is the largest and the corresponding elections the most contentious since technically every freeman owning land within a Vailian city can cast a vote for this position in a drawn-out process that takes half a year from election start to finish.

The Professor

Sponsored by the academical elite of the country - mainly professors - this duke not only attempts to further the funding of institutions of higher learning but also to ensure adequate healthcare and food supplies. As such, much of their duties consist of subsidising new potential ways of enhancing crop yield or researching new medicine.
Since many of these initially promising projects end up failing, the other dukes are reluctant to grant them funds.

The Shadow Duke

Officially, no such position exists. Accusing the Ministry for Interior Security of collusion is considered sedition and will be persecuted appropriately.

The Ducal Council

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Position

Shadow Council of Grand Vailia

Factions

Merchant Guilds
Vailian Trading Company
Vailian Army
Vailian Admirality
Vailian Diplomacy Corps
Vailian Freemen Association
Vailian University Association