Eternal Empire of Aelilaea

## Government (and other political affiliations)

### Some Context on Elven Houses

The elves of Aelilaea can be divided into a number of distinct 'Houses'. The system of Houses was originally codified by King Glauril Goldeneye, who had noticed that the elves, who had emerged without organization from the lawless and chaotic Feywild, had looked to the elder members of their own family for guidance and advice in settling disputes. This was eventually codified into the 'Houses' system, where the citizenry of the empire could each claim membership of one or more 'Houses' based on their parentage, tracing their bloodline back to an ancestor they shared with each other member of that House. Each House - and every new House, should any family grow large enough to form cadet branches - must be inscribed into a collection of 'Lineage Tablets' kept by the King or Queen. In the days of the Empire, these tablets were kept at the site of the Elvish Emergence in Durdith Kay.

The Houses can be further divided by relative political power. The most powerful House in the Empire is the House of the Crown, followed by the Great Houses, and then, the Lesser Houses. The House of the Crown, as the King or Queen's own House, is afforded the most power and influence - though Glauril Goldeneye's mortal avatar reigned as King for effectively the entire history of the Empire, making their heirship of the empire effectively ceremonial throughout the empire's history. Nevertheless, they maintain significant prestige even in modern times in the Empire's offshoot kingdoms. The Great Houses are those Houses with great prestige and influence, usually through their proven and unbroken lineage from a great hero - but the usual criteria for a Great House is just to hold dominion and governance over a significant area of land, such as a city. Any new Great Houses must be given official recognition by the Royal Family before they can claim the other associated benefits. Last are the lesser Houses, which are effectively all other Houses which are not notable.

When an individual elf is born, they are issued with a document of verified ancestry, usually reaching around 5-10 generations back - though, with more important houses, the document is often much, much longer. The individual claims a single surname that they share with one House, and maintains a connection with the members of any other houses which they are connected to. Usually, the surname of the individual is determined by the elder of the two parents, with the younger granting a lesser connection, but there are exceptions for if the two houses have a major difference in power. The House of a Royal Family is passed on to any of its descendants and any connection to a Great House is given greater weight than a connection to a lesser House.

Though Aelilaea is no more, the Houses system survived and is still in use today by the modern High Elves, Snow Elves, and Dark Elves.

### The Ruler and Councils

The Empire was ruled by King Glauril for its entire history, but the codified system was that in the event of his death or retirement, his heir - the closest living relative he had that was of the criteria to rule - would take the throne, and the Empire would always have a ruler in place. This ruler had have important duties such as the signing of edicts and official proclamations, the declaration of wars, several forms of negotiation, and so forth.

The ruler was advised by a council consisting of a representative sent by each and every one of the Great Houses in the Empire, who would meet to speak their minds on any new proclamations, policies, any wars, negotiations, bargains, and to bring up any grievances.

Locally, there were also councils that served as a lesser version of the Royal Council - where each Great House would host a council for a representative from each Lesser House to attend, air their grievances, and speak about any local policies in place.