The Council of Graces

The Council of Graces is a major governing body of United Merion. While the Twelvescore Enobled manage their individual lands, the Council discusses and debates on matters that would affect the kingdom as a whole. Officially, the Council has no authority to pass laws or decrees, as absolute power remains with the monarch, and minimal 'direct' power. Unofficially (and even then, only by the most technical of definitions) the Council is seen as the largest and most influential political body in Merion due to how frequently a monarch will take the recommendation of the Council on any given matter and the amount of national oversight it has been granted by the Crown. This level of respect is taken to the point that a monarch who openly and repeatedly goes against the Council's recommendations and wishes is viewed as a foolish and dangerous monarch. Additionally, the ultimate decision of who inherits the Throne following the death, abdication, or similar inability to rule of the previous monarch falls to the Council of Graces.

## History

The Council of Graces is a ducal-styled court, originally based upon the court system still utilized by the League of the Palisades to this day. During The Seven Great Years and Alice I's rise to power, as well as the creation and spread of the Six-Sided Church, Alice went about restructuring the former Merionese Duchal Council into what is now known as the Council of Graces. This left the Council with more influence and power (with Crown approval) than a standard Duchal Council, as well as a degree of a religious aspect, which Alice deemed more useful to her in maintaining and expanding her newly created kingdom.

## Membership

There are around forty-eight councilmembers on the Council of Graces at any given time, and new members are chosen by the Council itself, with approval from the monarch. At any given time, the possession of the council seats is roughly one-third belonging to Candlebrooks, one-third belonging to members of the "Big Three" noble houses (Houses Wing, Illwoll, and Golscat, with House Golscat being the most represented of the three houses), and one-third extraordinary members of other Twelvescore Houses that are not set to become the Lady/Lord of the house, as Lords and Ladies are banned from serving on the Council. Additionally, over half of the members serving on the Council of Graces are also Knights of the Gardens, and any given Knight of the Gardens is likely to be invited to serve on the Council at some point in their life.

A councilmember typically serves for life, but retirement is common. In rare circumstances (approximately once per generation) a councilmember will be removed from office by the rest of the Council and quickly replaced.

## Leadership and Cohort Structure

By design, the Council of Graces has no formal internal leader. There is an informal position, the Speaker, who reports directly to the Candlebrook monarch and the leader of the Six-Sided Church. This Speaker position is voted on by the other members of the Council of Graces and generally is little more than a popularity contest. However, this vote frequently ends up being determined more by process of elimination, as it's the rare councilmember who is equally favored by the Crown, the Church, and enough fellow councilmembers. Traditionally, but not always, the Speaker is a member of House Wing.

The current Speaker is Philo Wing, uncle of the current Lord Wing and a Knight of the Feast (Fire and Earth).

### The Cohorts

Councilmembers are typically incredibly busy and in session all the time, though, by tradition, they are separated into six "Cohorts," essentially committees, and only five of the Cohorts are on call at any one time. Practically speaking, for the sake of allowing for stragglers and other possible setbacks, any given councilmember is generally working in Wick for ten months out of the year. During their two months off, they typically hustle back to their home region and get a feel for how things are going out there; it is generally thought that it is always useful to have rotating first-hand accounts from councilmembers regarding what is going on outside of Wick.

The six Cohorts are as follows (note that the Cohorts are named by number, not by subject of focus):

1. Cohort One: Matters of Trade
2. Cohort Two: Matters of Defense
3. Cohort Three: Matters of Science
4. Cohort Four: Matters of Law
5. Cohort Five: Matters of the Commons
6. Cohort Six: Matters of Mystery

On average, each Cohort has around eight members and each Cohort has a specialty connected to the tenets of the Six-Sided Church. However, presently, the specific role of any given Cohort is less closely observed than in the past, and these days the Cohorts are mostly only separated by the coloring and styles of each Cohort's ceremonial robes.

Cohort Six is simultaneously the most-respected Cohort and the Cohort most likely to draw uncertainty, light mockery, and "eye-rolling" from the rest of the Council. Members of the other Cohorts often, privately, complain that Cohort Six does not pull its own weight; all other Cohorts have occasional messy and tedious ground-level disputes to adjudicate, whereas Cohort Six does not and is considered somewhat above such matters.

Councilmembers are frequently moved between one Cohort or another in order to maintain balance and ensure that people's talents are being used most efficiently. However, it is unusual for a councilmember to be in more than two or three Cohorts over the course of their time in the Council.

## Trivia

* Even when there is heavy debating over any given topic in the Council, the vote to decide what will be done/recommended to the Crown is almost always unanimous in order to publicly present a unified political body.
* One of the Twelvescore seats is always occupied by a member of House Ouwoll. This is not because of any formal rule, but because House Illwoll members of the Council often having a lot of important business to bring before the Council but are notoriously bad at public speaking. In order to move past this problem, House Illwoll frequently ensures that they have one or more charismatic councilmembers from House Ouwoll to interpret. Because of this, House Ouwoll is the single most represented (non-Big Three) Twelvescore House on the council.
* Among the various sub-orders of Knights of the Gardens, Stewards (Earth and Water) are the most likely to be invited to the Council, closely followed by Knights of the Cascade (Water and Air) and Knights of the Feast (Earth and Fire). The other three sub-orders are typically represented by at least one councilmember, but any more than that is a rarity.
* Candlebrooks on the Council are frequently looked down upon by non-Candlebrook members due to a belief that the barrier for entry is considerably lower for members of the royal family.