Good people of the Imperial City, welcome to another Elder Kings developer diary! Today I'll be detailing a feature coming in the next update that is currently being tested on the SVN: the Elder Council. Brace yourselves, it's a bit of a long one!
The Society
The Elder Council is the central administrative organ of the Empire, operating of the Imperial City. In-game, it represented as a society. There are 4 ranks: Councillor, Advisor, Chief Councillor, and, the grandmaster, the High Chancellor. The Elder Council maintains its own treasury, which its members use to carry out administrative quests throughout the Empire. The Council, particularly through the High Chancellor, has several special interactions with the Emperor. There are different restrictions to join the Council, which will be discussed later on.
Some of you may have already noticed a problem with this. That is, in the Interregnum bookmark, as its name indicates, there is no Emperor and no Empire. What can the Council actually do during this time? At any time, rulers who are de jure members of the Empire (the Cyrodiilic Empire in all current start dates) may opt to voluntarily pay taxes to the Elder Council, making them eligible targets for quests. Members of the Elder Council are always eligible targets, as they always pay their taxes.
There are several different types of improvements councillors can make, such as improving tax collection, shoring up recruitment efforts, and suppressing local revolt risk. Councillors are given a budget from the Council treasury to perform their tasks, and both the local ruler and the councillor have a chance to invest in the quest themselves (or discretely reward themselves for such hard work). Success is determined based on the remaining budget and the skill of the councillor.
Councillors can also receive a call to attend to Council business in the Imperial City. Before setting off, they can pay for extra guards to accompany them along the way, assuming the Elder Council isn't footing the bill (more on that below).
If you aren't properly guarded, bandits may decide to liberate you of some of your belongs, including, Meridia forbid, the amulet crafted for you upon joining the Council.
Once at the Imperial Palace, there will be various tasks for you to attend to based on your skills, giving more society currency and a temporary bonus.
Imperial Pretenders
Some may now be wondering how to claim the Ruby Throne. The most straightforward way is the traditional route of conquering enough land and creating the Cyrodiilic Empire (and then Tamriel) normally. However, for those High Kings of Cyrodiil looking to gain recognition as Emperor without needing to conquer their way to High Rock, holders of the Imperial City can seize the Elder Council and demand the Ruby Throne.
The Elder Council is quite likely to reject your demands, however. Holding provincial high kingdoms and not having the warlord trait improve your chances of being approved, as well as having members of the Elder Council being of your dynasty, culture, realm, and religion. If the Council rejects your demands, well...
A member of the Elder Council will be selected to be the council's war leader. Any members of the Elder Council that voted against your demands will join the war against you, and the High Chancellor will ask for help from any holders of de jure kingdoms in the Empire. This war puts a higher value on battles than sieges, so even if the Council war leader has only one province, they shouldn't fold immediately. A weak, divided Council will fall easily, but a large Council united against a pretender can be a continent-spanning coalition.
Once the Council is defeated, or if they never oppose you to begin with, you will be granted a new titular title representing your Empire. As, of course, you are the true claimant to the Ruby Throne, its history will reflect this reality.
However, this pretender title has several drawbacks when compared with the true Cyrodiilic Empire. For one, it's a titular kingdom, not a de jure empire. Secondly, it garners less Imperial Influence (used for interacting with the Council, more below) each year, and its holder doesn't get the special Emperor trait. Thirdly, it is far more likely to dissolve. For example, if an elective confederacy is recognised as the Empire, the Elder Council is likely to disavow the elected heir on their succession, especially if they're not of the pretender's dynasty.
If, however, a pretender forms the true Empire, all previous pretenders in their line will retroactively be considered to have been true Emperors. Whether you are a pretender or the true Emperor, you and your de facto vassals will always pay Council taxes and be valid quest targets.
Laws of the Empire
There is a set of special laws that dictate how the Elder Council interacts with the Ruby Throne. These can be reviewed in the current events menu.
The laws so far are:
Councillor Guards
Administrative Quest Funding
Join Requirements
Law Proposals
High Chancery
Imperial Allowance
Imperial Legislature
The jump from None to Advisory can only be made if the Emperor's council can vote. Similarly, the Emperor can only strip his council's right to vote if the Elder Council cannot offer any opinion on realm laws.
An example of the Emperor ignoring the Elder Council with the Advisory Imperial Legislature law in place.
Any votes put before the Elder Council, be they nominations, council laws, or realm laws, require a simple majority to pass. All councillors belong to either the Aristocratic faction, believing that the affairs of state are best left to the Elder Council, or the Imperialist faction, which believes that the Elder Council should only advise the Ruby Throne, not dictate law to it.
Councillors will tend heavily towards the Aristocratic faction. The best way to get Imperialist councillors is to try and stack the council with characters of your culture and religion who either love you or are dynasts. Councillors have a particular distaste for Emperors who are warlords, different religions, or different culture groups. A strong Imperialist faction will favour laws strengthening the Ruby Throne and provide more Imperial Influence each year.
However, the Emperor has a strong tool to hold back the oft-dominant Aristocratic faction: the Imperial Veto. Any vote put before the Council can be vetoed by the Emperor. Nominees can be dismissed without a second thought, council laws killed on the spot, and realm laws forced into effect. If not vetoed, motions require a simple majority to pass. Any ties are decided by the High Chancellor.
The drawback to this is that people will take a strong dislike to you doing this. The Aristocratic faction will hate you, your vassals will quickly become annoyed at this seeming abuse of power, and even the Imperialist faction will begin to turn if enough proposals are vetoed.
However, if the Elder Council is the dominant political force, the Imperial Veto can claw some power back to the Ruby Throne. If enough proposals are vetoed, the Council will cede some power to the Emperor in an effort to make the Empire run smoothly. The exact concession they make will depend on the current balance of power. Vetoes can force the Council out of a position of dominance, but they can't force through any strongly pro-Imperial laws.
That's all for now! You've all been imitating the conquests of Reman, Tiber, and Uriel V. We hope that now you'll be able to follow in the footsteps of Uriel VI. Who knows, there might be some more aspects of this in the works...
The Elder Council is currently live in the latest version of the SVN. Any feedback regarding it is greatly appreciated! For those who don't want to use the SVN, it should be coming with the release of 0.2.2.
Thanks for reading!
The Society
The Elder Council is the central administrative organ of the Empire, operating of the Imperial City. In-game, it represented as a society. There are 4 ranks: Councillor, Advisor, Chief Councillor, and, the grandmaster, the High Chancellor. The Elder Council maintains its own treasury, which its members use to carry out administrative quests throughout the Empire. The Council, particularly through the High Chancellor, has several special interactions with the Emperor. There are different restrictions to join the Council, which will be discussed later on.
Some of you may have already noticed a problem with this. That is, in the Interregnum bookmark, as its name indicates, there is no Emperor and no Empire. What can the Council actually do during this time? At any time, rulers who are de jure members of the Empire (the Cyrodiilic Empire in all current start dates) may opt to voluntarily pay taxes to the Elder Council, making them eligible targets for quests. Members of the Elder Council are always eligible targets, as they always pay their taxes.
There are several different types of improvements councillors can make, such as improving tax collection, shoring up recruitment efforts, and suppressing local revolt risk. Councillors are given a budget from the Council treasury to perform their tasks, and both the local ruler and the councillor have a chance to invest in the quest themselves (or discretely reward themselves for such hard work). Success is determined based on the remaining budget and the skill of the councillor.
Councillors can also receive a call to attend to Council business in the Imperial City. Before setting off, they can pay for extra guards to accompany them along the way, assuming the Elder Council isn't footing the bill (more on that below).
If you aren't properly guarded, bandits may decide to liberate you of some of your belongs, including, Meridia forbid, the amulet crafted for you upon joining the Council.
Once at the Imperial Palace, there will be various tasks for you to attend to based on your skills, giving more society currency and a temporary bonus.
Imperial Pretenders
Some may now be wondering how to claim the Ruby Throne. The most straightforward way is the traditional route of conquering enough land and creating the Cyrodiilic Empire (and then Tamriel) normally. However, for those High Kings of Cyrodiil looking to gain recognition as Emperor without needing to conquer their way to High Rock, holders of the Imperial City can seize the Elder Council and demand the Ruby Throne.
The Elder Council is quite likely to reject your demands, however. Holding provincial high kingdoms and not having the warlord trait improve your chances of being approved, as well as having members of the Elder Council being of your dynasty, culture, realm, and religion. If the Council rejects your demands, well...
A member of the Elder Council will be selected to be the council's war leader. Any members of the Elder Council that voted against your demands will join the war against you, and the High Chancellor will ask for help from any holders of de jure kingdoms in the Empire. This war puts a higher value on battles than sieges, so even if the Council war leader has only one province, they shouldn't fold immediately. A weak, divided Council will fall easily, but a large Council united against a pretender can be a continent-spanning coalition.
Once the Council is defeated, or if they never oppose you to begin with, you will be granted a new titular title representing your Empire. As, of course, you are the true claimant to the Ruby Throne, its history will reflect this reality.
However, this pretender title has several drawbacks when compared with the true Cyrodiilic Empire. For one, it's a titular kingdom, not a de jure empire. Secondly, it garners less Imperial Influence (used for interacting with the Council, more below) each year, and its holder doesn't get the special Emperor trait. Thirdly, it is far more likely to dissolve. For example, if an elective confederacy is recognised as the Empire, the Elder Council is likely to disavow the elected heir on their succession, especially if they're not of the pretender's dynasty.
If, however, a pretender forms the true Empire, all previous pretenders in their line will retroactively be considered to have been true Emperors. Whether you are a pretender or the true Emperor, you and your de facto vassals will always pay Council taxes and be valid quest targets.
Laws of the Empire
There is a set of special laws that dictate how the Elder Council interacts with the Ruby Throne. These can be reviewed in the current events menu.
The laws so far are:
Councillor Guards
- None: No effect.
- Light: All members of the Elder Council gain a small bonus to plot power defence, and some of their guards are paid for when travelling to the Imperial City.
- Full: As with light, but with a higher bonus to plot power defence.
The initial quest budgets can be set to be 0, 25, 50, or 75 gold. Higher budgets mean more chance of success but costs the Council more.
In addition to being de jure/de facto citizens of the Empire, the following are possible join restrictions:
Nominating/appointing councillors costs society currency for the High Chancellor and Imperial Influence for the Emperor.
- Quality: Not a warlord and one of the following: at least 20 in one skill, holder/direct vassal of the Imperial Commune, a member of the Emperor's council or personally prestigious or froma prestigious dynasty (exactly how prestigious varying based on feudal rank).
- Paid: Councillors pay to join the Council, with the money going to the Council treasury.
- Nominated: Councillors are nominated by the High Chancellor/Emperor and confirmed by the Council.
- Appointed: Councillors are appointed by the High Chancellor/Emperor.
Nominating/appointing councillors costs society currency for the High Chancellor and Imperial Influence for the Emperor.
- High Chancellor: The High Chancellor can propose council laws.
- Both: Both the High Chancellor and the Emperor can propose council laws.
- Emperor: The Emperor can propose council laws.
- Independent: The Emperor can never dismiss the High Chancellor.
- No Confidence: The Emperor can have the Council vote to dismiss the High Chancellor.
- His/Her Majesty's Pleasure: The Emperor can dismiss the High Chancellor at will by spending Imperial Influence. They can also designate their successor using Imperial Influence.
Determines the percentage of the Council's income that's given directly to the Emperor. Ranges from 0% to 50%.
- None: Realm laws are only voted on by Emperor's regular council.
- Advisory: The Elder Council gives an official advisement on whether or not to enact a law if the Emperor's council approves it. This advisement can be ignored, but your vassals and members of the Aristocratic faction (more on that below) will be annoyed.
- Binding: If a law is approved by the Emperor's council, the Elder Council must then approve it.
The jump from None to Advisory can only be made if the Emperor's council can vote. Similarly, the Emperor can only strip his council's right to vote if the Elder Council cannot offer any opinion on realm laws.
An example of the Emperor ignoring the Elder Council with the Advisory Imperial Legislature law in place.
Any votes put before the Elder Council, be they nominations, council laws, or realm laws, require a simple majority to pass. All councillors belong to either the Aristocratic faction, believing that the affairs of state are best left to the Elder Council, or the Imperialist faction, which believes that the Elder Council should only advise the Ruby Throne, not dictate law to it.
Councillors will tend heavily towards the Aristocratic faction. The best way to get Imperialist councillors is to try and stack the council with characters of your culture and religion who either love you or are dynasts. Councillors have a particular distaste for Emperors who are warlords, different religions, or different culture groups. A strong Imperialist faction will favour laws strengthening the Ruby Throne and provide more Imperial Influence each year.
However, the Emperor has a strong tool to hold back the oft-dominant Aristocratic faction: the Imperial Veto. Any vote put before the Council can be vetoed by the Emperor. Nominees can be dismissed without a second thought, council laws killed on the spot, and realm laws forced into effect. If not vetoed, motions require a simple majority to pass. Any ties are decided by the High Chancellor.
The drawback to this is that people will take a strong dislike to you doing this. The Aristocratic faction will hate you, your vassals will quickly become annoyed at this seeming abuse of power, and even the Imperialist faction will begin to turn if enough proposals are vetoed.
However, if the Elder Council is the dominant political force, the Imperial Veto can claw some power back to the Ruby Throne. If enough proposals are vetoed, the Council will cede some power to the Emperor in an effort to make the Empire run smoothly. The exact concession they make will depend on the current balance of power. Vetoes can force the Council out of a position of dominance, but they can't force through any strongly pro-Imperial laws.
That's all for now! You've all been imitating the conquests of Reman, Tiber, and Uriel V. We hope that now you'll be able to follow in the footsteps of Uriel VI. Who knows, there might be some more aspects of this in the works...
The Elder Council is currently live in the latest version of the SVN. Any feedback regarding it is greatly appreciated! For those who don't want to use the SVN, it should be coming with the release of 0.2.2.
Thanks for reading!
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