The Bloom of Porto Radica

The ruling body of Porto Radica is the Bloom – an ancient council of eight masked officials, each known by the title of a sacred Thread from the Tapestry. These names imbue the Court with an almost ritual significance. Though the Bloom governs secular affairs, its traditions are deeply entwined with symbolism, masked ceremony, and oaths sworn before Weaves and Wraiths alike.

The head of each civic is known as a Petal of the Bloom. Each Petal presides over a distinct sphere of civic life, from trade and law to arts, espionage, and the dead. While ostensibly equal in voice, influence often shifts based on the city's needs, crises, and quiet bargains made behind curtains.

• Ignis – Presides over the Arts and Faith, theatre, festivals, music, and visual arts. Often held by a member of the Figli Rossa.
• Aqua – Responsible for hospitals, sanitation, disease management, and care for the vulnerable. Works closely with healers and apothecaries.
• Terra – Oversees roads, walls, aqueducts, housing, quarries, and structural upkeep. Works with guilds of masons, miners, and engineers.
• Ventis – Manages communication, foreign envoys, couriers, and postal systems. Organises festivals and messages that maintain civic unity or spread abroad.
• Ferrus – Governs the military and guard; their training, manufacturing of their arms and fortifications, and the regulation of arms and black powder.
• Lignum – Guides land use, farming, forestry, hunting, and sustainable resource management. Works closely with legal guilds like the Black Hands.
• Umbra – Handles espionage, internal security, judiciary reviews, and covert operations. Maintains a web of informants, archivists, and law clerks.
• Anima – Though not a voting Petal, Anima speaks for the Arbiters, overseeing necromancy, funerary law, contracts of undeath, and violations of the soul.

These are not hereditary positions, but elected through internal votes every decade by eligible noble houses and registered guild families – those able to prove both ancestral claim or extraordinary service (typically financial or military). Campaigning is cloaked in ritual and diplomacy; overt bribery is forbidden, but covert influence is expected.

All Petals wear ceremonial masks during Council sessions – each mask representing their domain. Though identities are technically public, it is forbidden to name or address anyone by title while masked, reinforcing the illusion that the Petal speaks, not the person.

Carnival Appointments

Every five years, a commoner is chosen to serve on the Bloom through the Carnival Appointments – a unique process blending public vote, guild nomination, and masked trial. For a month, candidates wear ceremonial masks and anonymously serve the city through debate, arbitration, and acts of public good, their actions observed by citizens and the Court. When the time comes, votes are cast not for names, but for masks.

Though intended as a voice for the people, the role is often swayed by guild interest, wealth, or Syndicate influence. The chosen Carnival Petal serves a single masked year, their identity known only to the Arbiters and a trusted steward. They cannot be reappointed, but may be elevated to permanent office in the next full election if they survive the political storm. Once dismissed as symbolic, the Carnival Petal has at times proven pivotal; casting tiebreakers, leaking truths, or vanishing after asking the wrong questions.

The Arbiters and the Petal of Anima

Though separate from the Court, the Arbiters – keepers of necromantic law – are granted a permanent seat under the title Anima. This unique Petal holds no rotating office; instead, a delegate from the Arbiters always speaks on matters of life, death, and spirit. Though unable to vote in daily rulings, the voice of Anima can override decisions involving burial grounds, soul contracts, or binding rituals; anything that is considered their domain. Due to their removed nature it has become custom for them to preside over votes and debates as Speaker.

The Black Hands

The Black Hands, despite much activity outside the purview of the law beyond city walls, are legally recognised as a guild of foresters, herbalists, and stewards of the reclaimed wilds east and west of the city. Officially they operate as caretakers of the region’s vital plant life and natural dyes, especially the black walnut groves and madder root fields. Their representative often speaks before the Lignum Petal and holds influence in trade and agricultural policy. Their presence is a quiet reminder that legality and loyalty are not always the same thing in Porto Radica.