Chickweed’s Guide
The Forum Council
Once, there was a time when dragons took the Forum Council very seriously. Each representative for each flight was highly respected, and their rulings on continent-wide laws were honored. There are some impressive stories about long past members, and how the Council was built on the flimsy structure of the Magisters, stretching all the way back into the Age of Obscurity. At one point, the Council even had it’s own enforcement crew and its own prison, and they were quite the force to be reckoned with.
However, those days are gone. The Forum Council rulings are primarily used in debates to gain the moral high ground, but their actual power is virtually nonexistent.
That said, it’s not like they’re ignored. They make a public appearance at every Forum holiday and each Flight representative has significant influence within their own clan, and while they are no longer significant lawmakers, they serve as top-tier diplomats to smooth out large conflicts.
I, for one, support this. The stories about the old Forum Council police are frightening, and I’m a strong advocate of other dragons keeping out of my business.
Hogtooth Chafer (Plauge): What does Hogtooth do? Nothing much. And when there’s trouble, he usually pushes the responsibility onto Manua, the Water Flight representative. Good job, Hogtooth.
Reinhold Longshore (Earth): Reinhold is new to the council, and I doubt that the other members will allow him to have much influence. He’s young and inexperienced, and I doubt he’ll last long.
Arcotia Jadevine (Nature): Arcotia’s battle cry is “why can’t we just be friends?” which is exactly as intimidating and persuasive as it sounds.
Yevna Cresent (Ice): Although Yevna can be quite impressive when she wants to be, she seems to be very content staying out of everyone else’s business. So long as everyone else stays out of hers, she doesn’t interact much with the other members.
Violaceus Cort (Shadow): No one knows what Slategill’s deal is, but everyone agrees that he’s enormously frustrating. When it comes to continent-wide policy, they council generally votes, and Slategill never does what you’ll expect. He may say one thing and vote accordingly, or he may switch his opinion and completely ruin a proposed motion at the last moment. No one can tell when he’s thinking, making him quite a liability in the world of politics. Where does he stand on the issue of council expansion? No one knows.
Magnon Condua (Lightning): I’ve recently learned that Magnon has developed the habit of selling her opinion to the highest bidder. While it seems that she has a grudge against a few specific Clans in the Shifting Expanse, it doesn’t outcompete her desire for a steady stream of gems. This makes her nearly as much as a wild card as Slategill, as her clout within the council could be purchased at any time.
Manua Rivulet (Water): Had I written this at the beginning of her career, I might have listed Manua as the most interesting Forum Council member. However, she’s gotten disenchanted with the rest of the council and participates much less than she did. That said, she’s still extremely involved with flight diplomacy. She was once a strong advocate of keeping the Council strictly a diplomatic committee and wanted to decrease its power even further. Lately, however, she’s been quieter about her agenda and she keeps ditching council meetings.
Hikmat Sitria (Light): Hikmat is influential within the council, but only as a supporting role. He’s got an impressive amount of gems in his vault, and thus it’s not uncommon for Council Members to vie for his favor when they’re trying to push a specific agenda. That said, he rarely introduces any ideas of his own. Instead, he likes to write issues on social issues the council can’t influence. (He’s particularly venomous against the
Returnism movement). His gems hold a lot more influence that he himself does. Right now, he seems to be invested in expanding council power.
Renata Nital (Fire): Of everyone in the Council, Renata was the most insistent that the Forum Council remain strictly a diplomatic committee. She, Manua, Yevna, and Arcotia were the most opposed to council expansion, but Renata was the loudest out of all of them. Though she wasn’t popular among her colleagues, it’s difficult to ignore a massive Imperial shouting at the top of her lungs, and she always made quite the spectacle when she starting ranting during a Forum Holiday. However, he’s been missing ever since the
Blacksand Treasure Crisis exploded in her Flight. It’s unknown if she’ll be replaced or not.
Arestor Ephemeris (Arcane): Oh my, this dragon is a piece of work. He’s intelligent, not doubt about that, but in the most infuriating way. Ever since he was appointed to the Forum Council, he’s been campaigning to expand the council power as far as possible. He wants the council prison back. He wants a special task force to thrown criminals in said prison. He wants to create binding laws for dragons to break so his task force have dragons to hunt down. He wants the respect and clout that the Forum Council had in days of yore.
Arestor’s also quick to work a crowed. He travels and gives speeches to push this agenda, which he named the “pro-involvement initiative,” and he publishes an article in an Arcane newspaper every month or so arguing that strong central lawmakers would help mitigate beastclan threats and quell clan and Flight rivalries.
It sounds ridiculous, but he has a surprising amount of support. He’s got Hikmat on his side for one, and Magnon. Not only that, but his adversaries are weakening. Renata was the loudest of his opponents, but now she’s missing and none of the other anti-involvement council members have her same charisma.
Thankfully, while Arestor have a passionate group of followers, most of the public hasn’t given him their support. Dragons like their independence. It’s going to take something drastic for him to actually achieve his goal.
Noriaki Citole (Wind): In a way, I feel slightly betrayed by Noriaki. After all, he’s my very own Council representative, and I’ve always respected him. Everyone respects him. I thought he did a fine job of speaking for my Flight, and he appeared to to be something of a populist. He gently resisted Arestor’s aggressive political agenda, was active in the Council, and never picked unnecessary fights with the other members. His deal with Renata to keep Fire industry from bleeding into the Steppes is particularly noteworthy.
However, the more I’ve learned about him, the more disenchanted I become. I discovered that he is Magnon’s primary customer, and that he funnels a generous amount of treasure to her every month. Even though the value of treasure has dropped, he still has managed to keep up his payments. That means he’s funding Arestor’s pro-involvement agenda indirectly while maintaining his own image of impartiality.
Not only that, he runs a small, unofficial bank that seems to specialize in calling in debts at inconvenient times. I’m not sure what he’s playing at, but I can’t deny that it’s clever. I haven’t figure out what he’s gaining from all of this, but I’ll keep an eye on the news. I’ll learn something eventually.
