Council of Engineer Class Citizens

The **Council of Engineer Class Citizens** is the technocratic governing body of Griddish as well as its location in Ashen Fissure.

### Description

The Council of Engineer Class Citizens, also called the Council or the Commission, is the technocratic governing body of Ashen Fissure. Its members consist entirely of Engineer Class Citizens. There is no Slave representation within the Council.

As far as its location is concerned, The Council is described as a domed area divided into two primary sections called Administration and Development.

#### Administration

Administration is the area where the official governing body resides and where voting, debate, and hearings take place. Betel Longshrew Piper is a junior member of the Council.

#### Development

Development is an area where technological innovation takes places. It consists of a network of interconnected laboratories from which any number of experiments are executed. It is separated from Administration by an avenue named Midriff Stump.

> Matere scoffed and turned his back to the structure and walked towards a series of black, square buildings that stood in clusters as if they had been randomly dropped from the sky and lay where they fell. He smelled deeply of the clean, florid air as he walked along a wide, cobbled walkway that led to the center of the cluster of buildings. He paused and then turned towards one of the buildings and stepped through its shimmering, translucent doors that spread apart like curtains of water as he passed through. He walked towards an array of tubes. Each possessed an open gate on one side, a kind of whistling orifice through which blue and green streaks of light passed as colorful streams. He stepped into the tube and was whisked upwards. Moments later, he stood on a lattice platform, the floor that was his final stop. He glanced through the glass walls to the world of Griddish outside.
>
>

### Appearance

The Council is described as a domed area that has rolling verdant hills.

> As [Matere] walked, he let his gaze fall first on the wide, rolling, almost endless lawns of the Council grounds. His eyes wandered to the glass dome, and then beyond, the outer reaches of Ashen Fissure, its tall, spiky buildings stretching dreamily towards the sky. He could only imagine what lay beyond the clinging mist, the thousands, perhaps millions, of Slipshot Silos that littered Griddish’s surface.
>
>

### Controversy

The Council is often looked upon with poor regard by the Slaves for making decisions that don't include their participation or representation. According to Rive Amber,

> Beyond, the bright dome of the Council of Engineer Class Citizens, its complex of manicured lawns, administrative buildings, and centers of innovation, exuded its own type of glimmer. *All those things we never had while we managed the Slipshots and the Vars. All those times we had to dismantle a Var because someone from there said it had to be done. The Council is hope, for some. For others, a burden. Perhaps our undoing.*
>
>

Rive Amber's wrath extends to any association of The Council, including Matere Songgaard.

> “Pompous ass, indeed,” muttered Rive Amber. *It looks like it’s all crumbling around you now, my dear Engineer Class Citizen Matere Songgaard. The Council has made its decision and placed the burden on us Mechanics to fulfill. Is that why you’re on Var 8, posing as some idiotic Varling? Do you really think you can save your little experiment from my Constructor Class Vérkatrae? Frankly, I hope you burn when my Vérkatrae arrive.*
>
>

Dr. Jeremiah Onu also describes The Council as a corrupt organization whose time has come.

> “Everything that The Council touches is corrupt,” said Jeremiah, holding one arm up in the air, as if he were starting a lecture. “Nothing that comes from it must be left whole. It is only when its influence is fully obliterated that we can be free to meet our full potential.”
>
>

Opal Fremmitty describes the Council as a blind organization that cannot take into account the need of the Varlings, who are the victims of a dismantlement project.

> “The Council doesn’t give a s--t about these Vars,” shouted Opal. “To them, they’re just another opportunity. Another contribution to the economy of Griddish,” her tone filled with mockery. “And we,” she said, slapping her chest, “We are the ones who have to deal with the Vars. We have to come down here and set these monsters, these Vérkatrae, against the people. Yes, Rive, these Varlings, which you like to call them, which we’ve all called them, are people. They have feelings that we can’t even understand. They have families and relationships. They have love and they care for each other.” She paused. Her breath was short, raspy. Her jaw was clenched.
>
>

### Trivia

* The term "Council" is often used interchangeably with the term "Commission."

1. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 150). Mint Cookie Industries.
2. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 150-151). Mint Cookie Industries.
3. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 114-115). Mint Cookie Industries.
4. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 118). Mint Cookie Industries.
5. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 229). Mint Cookie Industries.
6. ↑ Aibo. (2023). *Slipshot* (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 258-259). Mint Cookie Industries.