Questions about the City Council

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Poisonous
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Questions about the City Council

Postby Poisonous » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:41 am

Hello! I was hoping to find out more information about this:
Citizenship taxes cost 500 cp. You must be Impilturan and residing in the city you wish to be a part of.
This grants you citizenship of the chosen city. This exempts you from the month of service in the Feudal tax as well as from road and bridge tolls levied by the city. You have the right to sanctuary behind city walls and may take part in the election of a council of local representatives.
I've heard others mention interest in how the local government works, and I'm interested in learning more myself. I'm making this a public post in case anyone else would find any answers useful. I have a few questions, as well as a hope for general information.

When does the election take place? What might we know about the current city council, and its responsibilities/powers? How does one run for city council?

Thank you for any information!
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EventHorizon
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby EventHorizon » Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:12 am

On a note related to interest in local politics and government, to hijack this thread VERY BRIEFLY and immediately turn it back over to city councils specifically, I want to resonate that I am indeed interested in local government being a significant part of gameplay here, and would highlight the feudal (minor) lord relationship to/dynamic with PCs as equally crucial, and hope that the team agrees and acts on that agreement, and bans me for writing sentences of this length in the future.
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Loreweaver
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Loreweaver » Fri Feb 12, 2016 1:29 pm

Every adult citizen (that is, those who pay the citizenship taxes for a particular city) has the right to vote on their representative for the city council. The council's main role is to provide the city leadership (two of the Lords of Imphras II) with proposals on local ordinance and insight into the needs of the people. Proposals, of course, must pass Tyrran scrutiny before they can be implemented.

In Sarshel, any citizen can register as candidate but the final election roster always consists of the seven current council members (or their appointed successors) and up to five others. If there are more than five new candidates, there will first be an election to lower this number. Unlike the official election, this one's organization is not paid for by city funds but rather the costs are split between the 6+ candidates.
The elections themselves are day-long public affairs, organized in several locations across the city. Based on their name and address, citizens will have some rough idea of when and where they are expected to show up. At the location, a list of names is read aloud and in the pause between them the named citizen can call out the name of their preferred representative in reply. If they are absent or indecisive, the vote is lost. The other people gathered for their own turn are used to verify the identity of the speaker - if they start making noise, the proceedings are halted until the reason for the disturbance can be identified.
Elections are organized once a year, which in real time would be anywhere between 1-4 times a year depending on how active this aspect will be.

The present council, as most before them, consists almost exclusively of representatives for the various narnath collected under the Threespires laern. In fact, many people consider the elections a jostling for primacy and self-importance amongst the local guilds rather than an honest attempt to select the best aldermen. It will not be surprising, then, to learn that the city council's main interest lies with improving the city's economy and the position of the hard-working craftsman. They can be considered a powerful lobby, but do not make the final decisions.

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Kerstman
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Kerstman » Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:31 pm

I have a question about the 'chosen city' part. Does this city have to be IG like Sarshel, Outentown and Vlasta are? Or can it be a city or town that is not IG like Breminster may be since there is a lord of Breminster? It also applies to larger cities like Dilpur and Laviguer ofcourse. In the latter case what shall be the 'chosen city' and can it be rp'd IG? If so, how? That is something that is still quite puzzling to me.
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Loreweaver
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Loreweaver » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:15 pm

There are four cities in Impiltur. Everything else is a town, a fortress or something smaller.

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Kerstman
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Kerstman » Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:52 pm

That does not fully answer my question though. Is it then assumed that all PC's paying citizenship taxes are citizens of Sarshel? Even if their lord resides near Vlasta? Or is it totally unrelated to a lord? Are they supposed to live in or near their city or is there some freedom?

Sorry for putting it in fragments, but my misunderstanding consists of multiple aspects.
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Loreweaver » Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:53 pm

Your character can be an Impilturan citizen of Lyrabar, Hlammach, Dilpur or Sarshel. This requires that they live in the city and have sworn an oath of fealty to one of the Warcaptains in command of the city (which is usually accepted on their behalf by a lesser functionary rather than in person), and of course that they've obtained citizenship rights.
It's possible to be a citizen of a city and live there in name only, spending most of the year elsewhere. For most Impilturans this would be a bad idea however, because they miss out on the opportunity to claim the rights they've paid for, won't reap the benefits of their lord's efforts to support the community and won't gain their lord's voice in a legal dispute because they're too far outside the jurisdiction.
Most of Impiltur's civilians therefore will not have citizenship status. None of the lords of the other settlements are empowered to bestow this status, nor can they grant the rights and privileges associated with cities. It's possible to live in the city without being a citizen, of course, but you will equally miss out on certain rights. The citizenship is mainly interesting to those who own property in the city or have a significant role in its trade, but is also a way to pay off the crown so you don't have to labour on your lord's behalf.

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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby OldBear » Fri Feb 12, 2016 10:49 pm

So if your sworn to a lord say of Oldfeld who has lands outside of the city, what do you buy? A feudal license I presume to your lord. But if not on a farm it appears you don't buy the one allowing farming, logging etc.

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Poisonous
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby Poisonous » Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:34 am

Would it be possible for elections to take place IC so that players might participate, either trying to be elected or voting themselves? Even as little as a forum post.
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EventHorizon
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Re: Questions about the City Council

Postby EventHorizon » Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:31 pm

I look forward to doing things with this in the near future.
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