Alderian Council
The Alderian Council is the governing body of The Free Cities of Alderun. Within their own city, they have the authority similar to that of a foreign city lord. However they are expected to uphold the mission of the whole council: maintain order and individual freedoms. Their station is gained by election from the public, and organizations from the region. Each member of the council represents one of the region’s cities.
The Alderian Seats are:
- Tenzentak - Lady Helseena Trodak
- Rails - Grand Artificer Janeesa Query
- Holocene - Lord Leonell Vanveld
- Deepspell - Lady Zed Dion
- Zessgorn - Lord Esartes Hald
- Hanen - Lord Poe Abbarand
- Ka’thoor - Elder Err’del Raeshik
Each city has a slightly different method of electing their officials. In some cities, the polls of individual citizens are prioritized. In others, the greater organizations like industries, political groups, guilds, and things of the like are more valued. However in each city, an individual does get a vote regardless of the exact weight.
Votes are cast when an Alderian Seat leaves the position. This can be by retirement, death, or being ousted by the rest of the Alderian Council or their city. Polling is done by individuals queuing for Cast Stones. A Cast Stone is a small Chalkstone pebble with a small hole drilled in it. At the depth of the hole is character from the Ferric Alphabet that is randomly selected each time a vote is had.
The chosen symbol is random and not made public in advance of the polling. This serves two functions:
- Fraud is much more difficult. The informational Energy of Chalkstone is hard to falsify as it is already minorly magical. It is also hard to drill and inscribe without cracking. Fraud does occur, however it is infrequent and on a relatively insignificant scale. Historically, fraud usually happens in favor of each candidate with the same relative frequency. This balances out the damage that would have been done. Modern Apparatum can also detect if multiple stones have been dropped by a single individual, however these are not often seen in small communities like Gate Towns and Outer Villages.
- Tallying votes is very simple as Arcanists can simply count the number of information Energy signatures that a collection of the Cast Stones would emit.