Proturan Council¶
Contested
This page is named in the open question Governance of Proturas and the Grotto. The Into the Rift documents give Proturas an anonymous government of Three Exiles and the Blind, a note on the Grotto gives it a Conclave of seven factions, and the 2023 documents give it the Proturan Council. The page follows the newest and keeps the others under Earlier accounts.
The Proturan Council is the government of Proturas in 834 AL, in the Fifth Age: a council of faction representatives under a High Lord Councillor, whose "decisions ... are legally binding and passed by simple majority" (S078). It grew out of the Proturan Federation of the exile factions and was remade under the Warmaster Harald Pallidine into a central government that appoints counts, issues writs of war and settlement, and has lately set the city on a war footing against the Boreal Elves.
Also called: the Proturan High Council; its members the Proturan Councillors or High Councillors (S040, S041).
Membership¶
The primary factions are the council members. "Secondary factions can break ties" (S078). In 834 AL the seats are held as follows, eleven councillors and the head of the council as the twelfth (S040, S041):
| Faction | Seats |
|---|---|
| Warlocks of the Blue Flame | 2, one of them held by Eksuru |
| The Marlezai (Uk'Zarai) | 2 |
| Wood Elves | 2 |
| The Divine Alliance | 2 |
| Children of the Light (Kalari) | 2 |
| Old City Administration | 1, a minor member's seat that votes only to break ties (S078) |
| High Lord Councillor | the twelfth seat |
The head of the council is called the High Lord Councillor (S106, S107), the Grand Councillor (S040) or the High Councillor (S041). Since late 799 AL the office has been held by Eigurd Pallidine, elevated after the assassination of his father Harald (S107).
Rules of membership¶
The faction notes set out the terms on which a faction holds its seat (S078):
- Each faction supplies "an equal quota of soldiers" to the common army, paid and supplied by itself, and keeps a militia twice the size of its levy for local defence. "Any faction unable to meet the mutual defense obligations can be removed from the council." The Proturan Military page describes the forces.
- "Adding new council members requires that they take up and meet these obligations for at least a year before they are granted full council status."
- A faction that keeps its independence but cannot meet the full obligation becomes a minor member, providing "a lesser force to the common defense"; "Minor members can only vote to break ties."
- "Land Ownership is only possible via a member (primary or minor). All land ownership must trace back to them." If a faction breaks down, its land "will be distributed via round-robin to remaining factions".
- "Districts with no clear dominion (50% or more of total land ownership) are governed by council magistrates, which are appointed by weighted voting (based on land ownership percents)." The New City is governed this way, "not ruled by any single faction".
- The Warmaster, chosen from within the army and not by the council, "has complete authority over the external borders (and can override non-unanimous council decisions dealing with the border)".
Powers¶
Under Eigurd the council moved "to consolidate direct control of Proturan lands under the central government in a more feudal-like system". Its lands are divided into counties, each under a Count or Countess appointed by the council; "hereditary passing of these titles is subject to approval by the council and revoked in some cases due to ineptitude or disloyalty", though "Uk'Zerai and Wood Elves have so far had the political clout to continue to effectively appoint their own Counts and Countesses" (S107). The chain of law that runs down from the High Lord Councillor is described on the Proturan Arbiters page.
The council grants writs. The Countess of Wrighthall, whose son was slaughtered in an elven raid, "petitioned the High Lord Councillor and was awarded a writ allowing the lawful settlement and annexation of all unforested areas of the eastern bank", which "amounted to a declaration of war on the elves" and began the Riverdale War (S107). The warlock Eliron travelled the Vale of Aren with "a Passage and Import Writ from the Proturan Council giving permission to/from Proturan lands citing Council Business", with two soldiers and a priest appointed by the council but paid by him (S073).
The council also polices its own members: it forced the Warlocks of the Blue Flame "to accept policing from the Wardens due to several high profile demonic incidents" (S078).
834 AL¶
After the sack of Dunharr, a town of five thousand, "the Proturan Council has declared war on the Boreal Elves in the Ettermore Forest". "As part of the act of declaring war, a bond was raised to hire a police force and build basic infrastructure in the Warrens. (It is seen as a security risk). Every major faction of Proturas contributed." The Warrens was annexed as the County of Claydun, conscription notices were enforced, and the Raven Concord was charged with treason and its hall seized (S051). The war is told on the Etterwood page.
The Proturan Pact¶
Beyond its own counties Proturas protects allies under the Proturan Pact. Dru'Bazan, a dwarven settlement deep in the underdark, and the Vale of Merriq, "in a hidden and isolated location in Terrun with few threats", are each "an independent city-state under the protection of the Proturan Pact" (S066). The Pact's garrisons and portal towns in the Rift are described on the Rift pages.
History¶
The government passed through three forms (S107); the wars that drove each change are told on the Rift Period page.
- The Proturan Outpost (626 to about 650 AL): "governed by a Mayor selected by the Elders from the various factions", the Elders also forming an advisory council. "Roughly 7 mayors served in the nearly 30 years during this period. The last Mayor ... attempted to dissolve the council and elevate himself to king. After a brief civil conflict, the mayor and his forces were defeated and the position of Mayor was dissolved."
- The Proturan Federation: "The different factions decided to form a federation ruled directly by the federation council." Each member chose one councillor by its own process ("some were elected by elders, some were hereditary positions"). The members were the Children of Light, the Old City Administration, the Marlezai, the Warlocks, the Wood Elves and the Alliance of northern refugees. "Any faction unable to meet their military or tax commitments was downgraded to an associate member. This eventually happened to the Old City Administration."
- The Proturan Council: in the Barbarian and Second Araxian Wars power gathered in the Warmaster Harald Pallidine, "elected as the council representative for the Warlocks and then shortly after by The Alliance", until "he reorganized it into the Proturan Council with the High Councillor position at its head (with himself as High Lord Councillor). At this point, more and more authority was claimed by the central government and the federation faded away." Harald was assassinated in 798 AL, "evidence for the assassination points at the Araxians", and after "a brief civil conflict" Eigurd was elevated in late 799 AL.
Wood Elves¶
"Originally allies of Proturas, absorbed when their homeland was overrun", the Wood Elves1 rule the Elven Enclave in the city and forests to the south, under the King of the Wood Elves. Their forces include copper dragons, elven rangers and archers, and the Greywine Scouts; their banner is "a forest green banner with a white downward facing crescent moon". "Most don't live in Proturas itself", "they still consider themselves outsiders and are treated as such", and they "have a pretty strong reciprocal alliance with the Marlezai and often vote in a bloc with them" (S078).
The Viridian Order¶
"A secret society of elves which are believed to have orchestrated several major conspiracies. The most famous of which is the dilution of Elven ancestry with human lineages. It is believed that modern Wood Elves are essentially Half Elves." The Order is also believed responsible for the Greywine mutation that lets some Wood Elves move easily in the Rift, and rumour gives the elves a Hidden Oasis, "a forested place in the rift guarded and kept by the Elves", which seems "far-fetched or likely heavily exaggerated as nothing living is able to grow in the rift" (S078). The mutation is described with the Greywine Elves.
Minor members¶
Old City Administration¶
"A multi-racial collective of some of the original founding Proturan outcasts. One of the three original founding factions. They are no longer wealthy enough to maintain full member status. However, they are still able to maintain the independence of the Old City." It is ruled by an elected Administrative Council of five and fields "various Irregular forces" (S078). The Administration lost its full seat "when their finances did not allow them to maintain sufficient forces after the council voted to increase the force limits after several dangerous enemy incursions" (S078).
Old Town Compact¶
The older note on the Grotto calls the Old City's faction "a loose confederation of minor powers which primarily resides in and controls Old Town. These were the original inhabitants of the Grotto" (S026).
Warlocks of the Path¶
A subsidiary faction, "part of the Old City", and one of the "Two Warlock Guilds" that the faction notes count among the city's below-board factions (S078).
Gap
Nothing more is recorded of the Warlocks of the Path: not their patrons, leaders, numbers or practice.
The Dwellers¶
"A multi-racial group which administers caverns to the west of Proturas. They consist primarily of outcast and rival factions." They "rule several villages and towns located in caverns to the west" with "various Irregular forces"; their leadership is not recorded. The Raven Concord is a subsidiary of the Dwellers (S078).
Aegis of Lorsythe¶
The Lorsythian refugees of the South Bank slums are a minor member, "the poorest faction, but quite numerous", "not represented on the council" (S078). They are described with the Divine Alliance.
Earlier accounts¶
The first plot notes for the Proturan campaign frame the city as "the last bastion of Humanity (& other Kalari races) in the North", with Boreal Elves and Orcs as "tentative allies" (S076), and the campaign ballot as "the last bastion of the Kalari races in the north-eastern part of Astia" (S077).
A short note on the Grotto describes a different government: "The Grotto is ruled by The Conclave. Each representative in the conclave is chosen from one of the seven major factions": the Old Town Compact, the Church of the Light (Kalari), the "Elves of Oer'Daenil?", the Warlocks of the Blue Flame, the Order of the Marlezai, the Divine Alliance refugees "from the northern kingdoms including Lorsythe", and the Templars of the Divine, "militant order separate from the old northern kingdoms" (S026).
The Into the Rift documents describe Proturus as "ruled by an anonymous government, with an executive council of 3 (The Three Exiles) and an operational group of 21 (The Blind)" (S002, S009). The Exiles hold three symbols of their office, one of them the Sceptre of Judgement, which holds the soul of a red dragon; enemy intelligence "confirmed the Last Exile is in possession of the Proturas Sceptre of Judgement", though "location and appearance" were unknown (S010). When Guhvils took the port of Myrgitta, "the Exiles will need to obtain these from previously hostile nations in return for a united front against the Guhvils", and arranged peace talks with the elves and the kingdoms (S002, S009). Those events belong to the Into the Rift campaign.