The Forum

The Forum is a fairly new and rapidly growing supernatural faction primarily based out of the Shogunates, the Southeast Coast of the Immortal Empire, and the Mübarek Republic, though under new leadership is intending to expanding all across the Outlands and are quickly becoming decently wealthy and some say in the Outlands the Forum challenges both the Tower and the Diabol in terms of power and influence and as the Outlands becomes more relevant due to the Hayatari-Yakunobe War and the opening of international cities there and in Levia by the beginning of 870 AU it seemed the Forum could no longer be ignored and by 873 AU they have began soft expansion into the Inlands, becoming an fourth faction within the centuries long game of supernatural politics historically only played by the Tower, the Diabol, and the Unbound/Gypsies.

## Ideology

The Forum's ideology is molded around the beliefs of the clans that are apart of the Forum. They support the Masquerade (though they call it Daihensō) and support Clan Democracy and each clan elects a faction-wide Chieftain and a city based Chief. All the Chiefs in a city are the Forum government heads in the city and debate and create laws and preside over all Forum members and activities in the city unless the Potentate appoints a Overseer for the city. The faction as a whole is governed by the Potentate, the privately elected head of all Forum forces and diplomatic activities and the Assembly of Luminaries (a council of 5 members of each clan in the Forum) that helps the Potentate create laws. Local Chiefs are usually chiefs due to either being elected by all the local clan members are proving their power as strong enough to deter any challengers. For the national Chieftain they gain the title depending on the clans rules. For example, the Forum Valefari's don't elect their leaders, rather, the most powerful warrior or bandit leader simply takes the office and holds it until death or defeat. The Forum Yōkai usually appoint their Chieftain's on duel ability and military strength, the Blackbloods and the Yaoguai elect their Chieftains. Their ideology is similar to the Tower's in some ways, notably they follow the Masquerade but they do not deny the existence of the Ancients or Primevals and a notable difference between the Forum and the other two factions is that the Forum allows primeval worship and encourage study of demonic history. They do not allow Ancient Worship though as currently their law is that the Ancients should stay in hiding as they believe the "Imprisonment Myth" that the Primevals or Judas imprisoned their Sires or sent them to Hell for being too powerful and less bound by curse to God. This is only a myth but it is the Forum's policy for now.

In terms of Primeval Worship the worship of a few (Potentate approved) Primeval's is allowed due to the Yaoguai practice of the study of Elders. Worship to the point of service is not allowed but Forum members are allowed to publicly discuss and praise the legally allowed Primevals and create philosophies inspired by them. The extent of Primeval Worship is controversial within the Forum as it is widely debated that allowing it jeopardizes loyalty to the faction but it is currently allowed. The legally allowed Primevals as of 873 AU are:

* Ventria, Lilin
* Rakuul, Radilus
* Ishtar, Valefari
* Ramiah, Blackblood
* Isaiah, Lilin

It is believed that knowledge of these Primevals were brought over by the 3rd generation Valefari and a few Malthusians and Lilins that were sailed to the continent of Xianye on the advice of Valefari Primeval Ishtar. Most Forum cities have what they call a Sanctuary which is essentially a sort of "homeless demon shelter" paired with temple to those Primevals paired with job recruitment office.

The Forum is also vaguely in favour of demonic supremacy though not as much so as the Diabol. The Forum believes that demons should work to exterminate what they label "anti-demonic" elements such as the Jiangshi in the Immortal Empire and the Almawthayar (or Holy Undead) of the Kingdom of Rah. The Forum has been at war with the Jiangshi for centuries and have in the 800s started to expand into Levia and fight with the Almawthayar.

## Government

To explain the government system of the Forum simply, it is sort of half clan council democracy as the demonic bloodlines in the Forum band together and operate as a Clan that (by varying methods) pick a Chief within a city and meet to pick a Chieftain that represents the clan faction-wide. The Chieftains are semi-independent and can build up their own clan armies and create laws and plans that only apply to Forum members of their bloodline. Chieftains generally don't control any territory but due to their military strength and influence over a whole main Forum bloodline ensures that Chieftains always have a seat at the table. The other half that isn't much of a clan council democracy is more of an oligarchy of powerful demons. The Potentate is the leader of the whole faction and generally only the most powerful members become Potentate. The Potentate is privately elected by the Assembly of Luminaries, the 20 seat council of appointed Luminaries from the clans and the Potentate.10 of the 20 Luminaries are appointed by the Chieftains of the 5 main clans (2 from each) and the other 10 are appointed by the Potentate. Luminaries tend to be powerful and rich demons and power players who gained their seat in the Assembly by bribing, plotting, intimidating, or schmoozing. The most powerful Luminaries rival the Chieftains in terms of faction influence if they're able to get the Assembly to agree on things they can essentially force the Potentate to do what they want else said Luminaries power bloc will officially call for their resignation. Other Luminaries simply use their position in the Assembly to make powerful connections and get richer via plotting. The Potentate is a position sort of elected by the Assembly of Luminaries and the Chieftains. First, their is a nomination period where any member of the Forum can declare themselves a Candidate if they have the support of one or more of these categories:

* Support from 5 or more Luminaries
* Support from 2 or more Chieftains
* Support from 20 or more Chiefs

If one meets one or more of these prerequisites and declares their nomination in front of the whole Assembly of Luminaries they are officially a candidate to be Potentate. Once the nomination period is over there is a week of backroom and plot heavy campaigning and then election day where the 20 Luminaries vote on the nominees and the one with the most votes becomes Potentate. It is then their job to make sure they remain Potentate by not angering Chieftains or Luminaries. Potentates, unlike Prefects are more like Monarchs than Overseers. The Potentate of the Forum has control of a large army and control of all faction resources and strategies with advice from the Chieftains and the Assembly of Luminaries. Potentates can also fire Luminaries on a whim and appoint their 10 Luminaries however they please. They can also fire Chieftain appointed Luminaries but that is often a surefire way for Chieftains to get angry. Potentates also have a lot of money as they collect portions of funds from all Forum activity and often have their own power net. Currently, the Potentate's official residence is the top 8 floors of the Tsuki Tower, the first constructed skyscraper in West Yorokobi. Those 8 floors include a throne room at the very top, the personal residence and offices of the Potentate at the 2 before the top and the rest are devoted to barracks for the Potentate's personal assassins, spies, and soldiers and private meeting rooms. The Assembly of Luminaries operates out of large mansion nearby to Tsuki Tower and if the Chieftains come together to meet they usually get a room at the Tsuki Tower.