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Civics 101

The government of the Cincture is a political body comprised of three organs:

• the High Council, a group of seven Belted who possess the highest judicial and executive authority;
• the Lower Council, the deliberative legislative body; and
• the Trade Council, a body primarily dealing with the laws of tradesfolk, but also city infrastructure.

The city of Vindulan is divided into 6 districts, which vote annually for their representative on the High and Low Councils, and for their functionary magistrates within their district. The seventh member of the High Council is the High Consiliar, elected in a city-wide vote, and candidacy is limited to individuals who have served three or more terms on the High Council.

The provinces operate similarly, maintaining regular elections for their magistrates, but they only send a representative to the Lower Council. The Trade Council is comprised of three representatives from each of the trade guilds, a representative from each district in the city, and three at-large seats filled from the provinces.

In addition, there is a Sorcerer Regent chosen by force of combat, an organized trial held every seventeen years. (It has been known to be deadly, but the last death related to this transfer of power occurred some two hundred years ago.) The Regent holds direct authority over the Beacon, and is accountable only to the High Council by their concerted might in opposition to the sigular officeholder. The Regent may submit legislation just as the Lower Council does, but where a Lower Council law can be vetoed by either the Regent or a simple majority of the High Council, a Regent's law is subject to veto only by a unanimous decision of the High Council.

Political Factions

As to belts, they are areas of specialty among students of the Academ, but also serve as political factions in the Cincture--wizards are the highest brokers of power in the polities of Vindulan. The Red belts (evocation, conjuration) are as a faction known for zealous promulgation of wizards' powers and authority & expansion of the Cincture without regard for considerations like ecological balance, other denizens who might live nearby, etc. Yellow belts (transmutation, illusion, enchantment) stand for, above all, harmony within the Cincture, bringing the tradesfolk to the table for a well-functioning economy, and are largely neutral on matters of expansion. The White belts (divination, abjuration, necromancy) are a minority in the current government, calling for a self-restricted role of mages, allowing the broader swath of humanity to have a substantial voice in their affairs, and are by far the greatest naturalists, approaching the ecology of Maroon and humanity's impact on it with sensitivity.