Council of Honour

The Council is led by its Lord Mayor who serves for life. When a Lord Mayor dies, the remaining Councillors vote for the new Lord Mayor in a series of votes in which the candidate with the least votes in each round is eliminated and the others continue to the next round.   The way the other councillors are appointed varies. The Grandmaster of the Knights of the Pavilion is a mostly hereditary position though the knights themselves are able to unanimously appoint a new Grandmaster. The Master of Coin is appointed by the Lord Mayor and confirmed by a majority vote of the council. The Master of Letters is appointed by the Lord Mayor freely. The positions on the council are briefly outlined below:  

• Lord Mayor; chairman of the council; elected by councillors and serves for life
• Deputy Lord Mayor; assists the Lord Mayor and takes his place when the Lord Mayor is unavailable; selected by the Lord Mayor
• Grandmaster of the Order of the Pavilion; he and his knights collect taxes and protect the cities wealth; hereditary or elected unanimously by the knights of the order
• Sheriff; head of the city militia, tasked with enforcing the law; elected to serve 10 years by the councillors
• Deputy Sheriff; assistant to the Sheriff; selected by the Sheriff
• Master of Coin; manages the city's finances; elected for life or until the Lord Mayor calls a new election
• Master of Letters; entirely ceremonial; selected by the Lord Mayor to serve as long as the Lord Mayor decides
• Chief Rector of the Grand Academy; head of the Grand Academy of Bairok; elected by the members of the academy
• Convener of the Requisite Directions; the ceremonial title of the King of North Bairek whenever he enters the city of Bairok; ex officio title belonging to the King of North Bairek
• Master of the External Regard; the ceremonial title of the King of South Bairek whenever he enters the city of Bairok; ex officio title belonging to the King of South Bairek
• Scribe of the Acts Divine; the High Priest of the Grand Pavilion; elected by the ranking members of the priesthood
• Master of the Great Port; the head of the Office of the Great Port which administers maritime trade; elected by the council to serve for life or until the Lord Mayor calls a new election
• Gatekeeper; the head of the Office of the Great Gate which administers overland trade; elected by the council to serve for life or until the Lord Mayor calls a new election
• Master of Statutes and Ordinances; the head of the magistracy of the city and in charge or matters of law and justice; elected by the council from the body of magistrates to serve for life.
• Master of Obligations; the head of the Office of the Council which administrates the council building and appoints civil servants; elected for 10 years by the councillors.

  The council meets in the Chamber of the City which sits on a hill in the north of the city.

Shortly after King Marnador finished his conquest of Bairek (in 841BU), he granted the city of Bairok special status as a "Great Port of the Empire", in a sense a second capital city after Tuluekaan. Marnador saw the city's growing port as a key asset of his new empire and sought to safeguard the city's prosperity. It is generally assumed that the name of the empire, 'Bairek', was derived from the traditional name of the city.   Under Marnador an "Honoured Council" was established to govern the city with Marnador's son and heir, Vastirnar, as it's Grand Duke. Until 621BU, the practice that the heir apparent of the Empire was also ex officio the Grand Duke of the Bairok stuck, though even in the early days, the other members of the council were entitled to appoint a Lord Mayor whenever the Grand Duke was absent. However, the city was thrown into turmoil in 621BU when the twin brothers Rastinor and Arnavar split the Empire in two, a crisis largely induced by the unclear succession rules for twins but also worsened by an increasing cultural divide between the south and north of the empire.   Rastinor had been named Grand Duke by his father King Marnador IV who favoured Rastinor as his heir. In order to appease his other son, Marnador IV gave Arnavar the title "Lord of Mazarat and the Other Ports of the North." When Marnador IV died, both rulers claimed the title of King and set out to Tuluekaan to be coronated. This sparked a war which lasted from 621BU to 559BU although there were periods of stalemate in that time.    Even from the early days of the war, the City of Bairok saw a string of Lord Mayors elected by its councillors on the basis that the Grand Duke was not able to execute his duties while on campaign. This led to a gradual shift toward independence for the city and when a peace treaty was signed by the sons of Arnavar and Rastinor, King Bolganor of the South and King Solon of the North, in 559BU, the Lord Mayor of Bairok refused to accept anything but full independence. The Duchy of Tuluekaan was also made independent as the two kings could not agree who should rule it and both wanted for their heirs to continue to be coronated there.   The council has seen a great deal of evolution since 559BU. Since the 5th century BU it has been called "The Council of Honour" though it was not given an official name by law until 322BU when it was named "The Council of the Community of the Honourable Men of the Great Port and Free City of Bairok." Many roles on the council have changed purpose during this time also, for example the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Pavilion was once the head of a militant religious order who protected the Grand Pavilion, a monument to the ancestors of the Baireki people, but who are now little more than armed tax collectors. There are also roles which have become mostly ceremonial, for example the Master of Letters who was once in charge of official communications but whose duties are now entirely managed by civil servants.