The Balance of Power

Within Sharoban, there are a number of political groups, all vying for some sort of control.

The grandest and oldest is the Council. Founded by the Six, the Council is the only originator of legislation and decrees within the city. The city's rulers sit upon it though their role is largely judicial. The laws the city follows are the ones laid down by the Six. These cover the basic aspects of law and order and the entire record of laws can be read out, in its entirety, over the course of a day. In fact, one of the tenets is that all the laws must be able to be recited over the course of one day and no longer.

Politically the Council does pass laws, usually through a process of debating points amongst themselves, discussing the issues with representatives from the guilds, Church and other groups. The rest of their time is taken up with dealing with groups from outside the city. They meet regularly with the delegates from the local tribes, ambassadors from the nearby western kingdoms and members of rich mercantile syndicates. This involves a tightrope walk of trying to balance the city's interests with the demands of these groups. Merchants want lower taxes, the local tribes want more taxes and a cut from the profits the city takes, as well as being picky about their territories being violated by the trade caravans. The ambassadors want everything from specific ingredients, the ability to put (more) spies into the city and to generally drag the city state into their sphere of influence. Despite all this the current Council has managed to maintain the balance it requires with these groups. It is only when the local giants, or worse the strange figure that calls itself the Dragon's Diplomat and claims to speak for the dragon Bright Wing, come calling that alarm is registered. This might change if an army made its way to the city, but that remains a remote possibility.

Within the city, the real intrigues exist between the guilds and the Church and other groups that want to influence the process of law making.  There is a tug of war between the guild leaders as they try to win concessions for their own crafts at the expense of the others. This creates an atmosphere of low-level animosity and backbiting that goes hand in hand with dirty tricks campaigns and the push towards spying amongst the most trusted aides of the guild leaders.

The merchant houses are similar; their factors constantly jockey in an effort to gain financial advantages. They usually battle via gift giving, each of them trying to curry favour by offering lavish presents to the Council members and their assistants. They often focus on the people who work behind the scenes, hoping to build influence by getting them to owe favours.

The Church has a different plan. They have an agenda to enforce the ideals of the Church. This takes the form of doing things like trying to keep the war season as short as possible and to control the more militant feelings among the Wind Strikers. They also work to encourage alms and charity in the city, and to preserve learning.  They tend to do this by influencing the Council indirectly, using the people as their tool to bring pressure on decisions made in Sharoban's keep.

These three groups, which are by  no means homogenous, in fact in many ways their internal politics are more of an impediment to their goals than their enemies are. However, it can be said that they represent the various voices in the city, excepting the military, and are instrumental to the maintaining the balance between trade, industry and faith. They bring pressure on the Council to enact changes in their favour and to further build influence. Through their machinations they force the Council to act, sometimes to favour them and sometimes not. Despite the power the factions bring to bear, it must be remembered that the Council is still very much in control, and it is hard to steer policy too much.

In all these factors have a piecemeal influence over the city and policy, they stymie each other regularly and often see plans fail. Whilst their intrigues have yet to bring the city to a standstill, it may only be a matter of time before it happens.