Oväs

After the Kivans were exiled to Jausai, they went about creating a new government for the city they built. They had all come from a variety of villages, so the first few weeks were a mess of conflicting leadership before they settled on a system that gave them all an equal say. Of the 362 original families, each head of household would get a vote in a democratic system.

Structure

The leader of Jausai is called the Speaker. He or she speaks for the populace and is elected by the Oväs. Once elected, the Speaker serves indefinitely. A Speaker is replaced for several reasons:

Death of the current Speaker
Voluntary resignation of the Speaker
Impeachment. Any member of the Oväs can make a movement against the Speaker, but it requires 51% majority to pass and remove the Speaker from office.

Below the Speaker is the Oväs. It consists of the heads of families throughout the city. Being on the Oväs is not a full-time job. They all have regular day to day lives and come from all ranges of socio-economic classes. They are expected to vote on behalf of their families. The Speaker is entrusted to make the day-to-day decisions of running the city and only calls for an Oväs vote for more significant changes - or if one of the Speaker's decisions causes an outcry. When a vote is called, it is announced one week before the vote to give Oväs members time to discuss among themselves and their families, and then they stop at the nearest public building to cast their vote.

History

When the city was founded, the heads of household of all families in the city were members. The position is then passed from parent to eldest child, so with the expanding population, there are many people descended from a second, third, or later child who did not inherit an Assembly position. Almost everyone, though, is related to at least one Assembly member - a spouse, a cousin, a great aunt, or a friend. Since the Fourth Reckoning, conflict has arisen from the large numbers of immigrants who are not descended from these families and have much less connection to a representative. They feel they are not given an equal voice in the government.

Every member of the Oväs has a token passed down from the original member. The tokens are carved from bone discs and each one has a symbol representing the family. These are usually animals or plants; the one above represents a flower.