Post-Imperial Selkie Council
The Post-Imperial Selkie Council, also known as the Old Khilaia, was the historical selkie government established after the collapse of the Second Selkie Empire and the death of the conqueror Milen the Seadrake.
The Old Khilaia was a bureaucratic and oligarchical state primarily focused on management of the Khilaian Isles. It went through several "phases" of rule, which might be considered their own governments or dynasties:
- From 935 to 1200 ME, the Old Khilaia entered a hyper-decentralized state that more or less allowed individual clans to act without restriction. The elders worked with Kailio to prevent outright war in the sacred isles, but clan wars took place in both the march kingdoms and well beyond. This is known as the Clan Struggle Period
- The 1200s ME saw a sharp reform period, with the formalization of several of the Hanahai bureaucracies and a court of selkie mediation. This led to a new government consolidating power over the Marches and fleets in the 1250s, under the rule of the 'Gang of Twenty': a group of about two dozen powerful clans. This became known as the Ironhand Period. The "ironhandedness" of this was period refers to both a prominent politician and the punitive use of violence by "pirate hunters" against dissenting selkie fleets. This is also a period of intense coordinated warfare against the Zesheko.
- There was a soft transition over the 1400s from the Ironhand government to the Gilded Period, when the clan oligarchy shifted away from military force and towards the profit-making of a handful of powerful clans. During this period, charismatic highborn selkies wielded immense influence and were often able to use the selkie bureaucracy to their direct advantage. This led to a growing anti-elite movement in the 1500s, which demanded more small-clan representation according to selkie tradition.
935 - 1580
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Predecessor Organization
Successor Organization
Comments