Council of Umbar
The Council of Umbar is the upper house of the legislative branch in the Polis of Umbar. It consists of the matriarchs1 of each of the city's nine noble houses.
Leading the Council is its Speaker, who is appointed by a simple majority vote of its nine Consuls.2
Founding
In the second half of the reign of Radiant Ozen I, political power began to be reorganized into two separate branches: the Church of Light and the newly formed Council of Umbar (which would in later centuries reorganize itself as well, creating the Council of Syndicates to deal with technical matters deemed "trivial" by the consuls).
The Council of Umbar became responsible for technical, day-to-day matters, such as maintaining the fledgling city's defenses; managing the newly created city guard, dubbed the "Copper Guard"; as well as trade and political relations with other settlements that had begun to spring up in the fertile flood plains of Greater Umbar and amongst the natural harbors within Varilean Bay.
Regardless, the Church of Light would remain the more powerful of the two, with its Pythia having veto power over nearly all of the Council's policy decisions, with the Pythia's veto only able to be overridden by the Radiant's own veto--an incredibly rare occurance.
Reorganization
In 3919 AW (498 SR) during the reign of Radiant Ozen II, the Council of Umbar underwent significant reorganization to incorporate into itself the noble houses that had been founding by incoming Radiants.
In an attempt to maintain power of the populace under Ozen II--a Radiant who did not come from amongst their own ranks--the Council's Consuls would thereafter come from the Matriarchs of the four noble houses founded that existed at the time (House Daukodeth, House Khúsoë, House Vátrodotho, and House Pázotho).
The fledgling consuls were successful in lobbying Ozen II to bestow additional powers upon them in exchange for their support in the eventual construction of a new royal palace (later dubbed Ozen's Watch in her honor).
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