The High Council of Gwendor

The High Council of Gwendor is the most important political entity in the world beside the Lord of Gwendor. This wide-reaching power has made the Council the focus of numerous power plays, controversies and plots. Its members are representatives of the four houses and these aristocrats act in their house's interests while serving in the Council. As a result of the Council's complex formational history, there are no proper formal rituals or ceremonies that elect or oversee the members, nor the Council as a whole. The only commonly respected restriction of the Council is its subordinance to the Lord, and even this is enforced by social and political conventions that are themselves subject to change and exception.   The Council's beginning is one of the most contested matters in political history. Most dialouges use "Council" and "Advisors" synonymously as questions of origin concern only the oldest component of the modern day Council. While there is a dominant narrative, led by Windcall University and Tome's Keep University, there are many divergent interpretations. The prevailing narrative- often called "The Gwerrithon Interpretation"- focuses on tribal origins wherein the contemporary Council is an organic continuation of the War Councils and Tribal Assemblies that first convened during the The Gwerrithon Wars. These groups of chieftans were the backbone of Girith I's campaign, with their support providing the funds and manpower for his conquests. Accordingly, they were the first to be called on when Girith required advice or guidance. On the other hand, they were also the first to demand kickbacks in the aftermath of these same conquests. These boons often took the form of new land, new spheres of influence, or ceremonial titles handed out by Girith I that endowed the holders with special rights or powers within his growing faction.   Eventually, these titles became so abundant, and the land so monopolised, that only a few major clans remained powerful enough to hold sway in the assemblies. Most of these clans went on to be the families that founded House Gwerrith. Others were those now loyal to House Tokköhün, though the extent to which Tokköhün and Gwerrith share a political geneology and the familial politics of this period are themselves a debate (see The Hunnic Controversy). After Dorröhaven's rebuilding, families of what is now House Dorröchk were also part of this power struggle, though they were late-comers. In this sense, the "Gwerrithon Interpretation" argues that the High Council preceeds House politics as its basis is the clan-led structure of pre-unification Gwendor wherein the political unit of local clan and family ties dictated the political landscape, rather than the much larger and comparatively modern unit of Houses.   To this end, the "Gwerrithon Interpretation" portrays the High Council as a pseudo-sacred entity: the last vestige of a more herioc and romantic age of clansmen and honour. Similarly, the House identities that now dominate the Council's composition are seen as new generation interferences that desecrate the true purpose of the Council, whose function is to keep the Lords accountable to the interests that empower them. To this end, the Council has been a bastion of conservative strength throughout its life, and the "Gwerrithon Interpretation" emphasises not only the value, but the necessity of this. To many, the Council acts as the responsible custodian of the Lordship's complex parts, their legacies and their interests. The argument is that no single Lord can hope to fully comprehend all these factors, creating the constant need for a stabilising presence at the highest level of government.   When discussing the High Council, what is most often meant are The Lord's Advisors , as they are the oldest and most powerful component of the Council. The Northern Priestesses and The Fellthorn Oracles are relatively new additions, and wield far less power than the Advisors. Additionally, as the names suggest, both the Priestesses and the Oracles are religious components tied to specific regions and identities. As a result, they are rarely involved in the drama that engulfs the Advisors, who are comprised of twelve notable figures who have House alliegances.   Depending on the independance and potence of the serving Lord, the Council acts with different levels of supremacy. In cases such as Girith Broadbane, where a strong Lord took leadership, the Council's power increased as Girith's health deteriorated and his grasp on authority over them faltered, while the beginning of his rule made them subordinate advisors. However, in cases such as Gadrik Broadbane Tobias Broadbane in which personal limitations of the Lord's left a power vacuum to be filled by the Council as Regents of the Seat. For Gadrik, the bubbling tensions inherited from Gwain Broadbane eroded his authority to such an extent that when coupled with his own personal flaws, the Council ultimately acted as de facto leaders. For Tobias, his age at time of ascension and his father's abrupt death made the Council Regents of his early reign, and though Seriticus' legacy hangs heavy, Tobias remains in a power struggle with the Council.   The most prominent alternative narrative points to the obscurity of the Lord's Advisors during the reign of Gelid Broadbane as a figurative death of the tribal authorities that brought Girith I to power. This interpretation is known as "New Estate Theory", and its rationale hinges on conclusions drawn from Gelid's rule. Gelid's Lordship was uncharacteristically long on account of his half-elf heritage. This length meant that Gelid could- in simple terms- outlast any chiefs or other agents. His scope for policy and action could dwarf that of any peer as a result of the stability afforded to his soverienty by his long youth. Therefore, chiefs and their powerbases gradually faded more as consequential actors in political decision-making the longer Gelid ruled. The theory's namesake argument is that the Council (meaning the Advisors) is instead a consious construction led by Girith Broadbane II to re-establish and perpetuate the conservative power dynamics that would characterise his reign. This argument is made based on three observations. Firstly, the Lord's Advisors became astonishingly powerful and active from the middle of Girith II's reign after being neglected for over a hundred years. Secondly, the House structures and alliegances that now influence the Advisors and the wider Lordship become more concrete during this period, though they appeared first under Gelid. Thirdly, Girith II made efforts to institute those within the Advisors as long-term cornerstones of political life: familial unions and hereditary land claims that remain to this day were organised here.