The Council of Families

Organization

The council meets on the regular basis to discuss their policies, with the votes regularly coming to a 4-3 decision, assuming a family doesn’t abstain. This often leads to various alliances made both for and against certain factions to ensure that votes go certain ways. Unfortunately, due to the close nature of all of the votes, sabotage amongst the council families is not only common, but practically expected. Whether the one family may hold a crucial resource from another in exchange to voting one way or another, to more extreme measures like kidnapping or even murder, the council of families is a dangerous game that most are not eager to get involved in.
Interestingly enough, the families in the council are there only because they are recognized by their peers and not because they are selected by the districts themselves. Should a family fall to great shame, lose a great deal of power, or even just be surpassed by another family in their own borough, the council may elect to recognize them as the family to represent that district. This often leads to a lot of shadiness where petty rivalries may escalate to the point where not only must one person must lose their status and standing, but the entire family must.
The council has no official leader, but rather tradition holds it together. The families themselves decide who will go to the council meetings with the representative changing over time, possibly even meeting to meeting depending on the circumstances. Each of the seven families will do everything they can to ensure that they keep their seat, no matter at what cost.
In the case that families do have disputes that can't be determined by vote, a competition will often be held by these families in a neutral location between appointed champions. These competitions can vary from combat, racing in either vehicles or on foot, or any variety of contest, but to not adhere to the competitions outcome is a great shame that can bring a family down. Because of the stakes in these competitions, the entire city will take interest and watch with their district's pride and their own coin on the line.

Families

The Kaleo Family

District: Aon

Color: Amber

Symbol: Four-sided Star

The Kaleo Family is the newest family to join the council after a scandal, that they may or may not have had a hand in, took down the ruling Kalaahani family. Their power and influence comes from information trading. Despite being so new, most other families are careful about what they share with them, fearing that it could be used against them in some way. However, their usefulness outweighs their fears for now.
A mehune family, the Kaleo have not had a regular representative in council meetings thus far. It seems that every other meeting has a different family member speaking on their behalf. As such, if you wish to do business with the Kakelo family, it can be difficult to figure out who to talk to.
Given their new position, they have not had to represent a champion for their home in any inter-council disputes, but if they continue to push their new power and information around, it is only a matter of time.

The Vivali Family

District: Ome

Color: Violet

Symbol: Ship's Helm

The Vivali family, despite being one of the most powerful and most secure families, is easily the least popular of all the Council families. They are the second richest family in Cherut Das, second only to the Kahale family, due to their business holdings. The Vivali family own most of the major ship builders in the city as well as controlling all of the shipping docks in their own district and several in all the others.
Like most residents of their district, the Vivali are humans. They were lead by the patriarch Jinn for many years, but over the last decade have been represented by his daughters, Ariadne. Ariadne often has goals of her own and will always attempt neutrality to get what she wants. If three members want one thing and another three want another, she will attempt to be the tie breaking vote, assuming one of the sides can give her what she seeks.
Their current champion is a young man named Vant who grew up in the Ome district. As he grew up underprivileged, he will always do what he can to help those around him. In the several times he has had to defend his district, he has proven himself to be scrappy and innovative, often thinking of tactics that would never occur to a more traditionally trained fighter.

The Sztharaxycus Family

District: Toru

Color: Cerulean

Symbol: Dragon

The Sztharaxycus family is one of only two families on the Council that have been there since the founding of the body. While not the richest or most powerful family by any means, they do have the most well established body of contacts on the council. This is largely due in part to the industry they excel in: luxury goods. Over the centuries, the Sztharaxycus family has been hiring teams of mercenaries to go to exotic and far away locations to retrieve rare and exotic dyes, perfumes, gems and the like and have built up strong relationships by doing so.
The family is usually represented by a pair of twins in council meetings, only one of which will be attending at any time. The twins, human like most of their family, are Marius and Sabine, both of whom will always have their families best interest at heart, but will go about it in their own drastically different ways. This can lead to other families changing their council tactics on a whim based on which Sztharaxycus twin will be in attendance.
Unlike most champions, the champion of the Sztharaxycus family is actually a member of the family. Tulla has been a crowd favorite every since her introduction, but her actual record has been somewhat middling. However, she is getting better with every appearance as the families access to exotic goods and relationships with mercenaries has lead to better equipment and training than most other champions would have access to.

The Rendall Family

District: Fyra

Color: Fuchsia

Symbol: Rose

The Rendall family is perhaps the most unique family on the Council. The matriarch, Meka, was unable to have children, but with their wealth they were able to adopt a large number of the orphaned children in Cherut Das, leaving them with no blood heirs, but dozens of loving children. As such they are diverse in race and ideals, but for the most part seem to be the most generous of all the families. Having that many mouths to feed was nothing out of the ordinary for the Rendalls as they supply most of the city with food, whether it be through experimental agriculture or through commercial fishing.
With so many members of the family, choosing someone to represent the family at Council meetings wasn't easy, but eventually the consensus came to be that Jassin should represent them. Jassin, a thora, always had a keen mind for numbers and probabilities and always seemed to know when the market would be ripe for a specific product. Using his analytic skills, he can overwhelm meetings with facts and figures, but always with specific purpose.
Perhaps the most popular champion of all, the Rendall champion is one of their adopted daughter, Lelayna Rendall, who has earned herself the title "The Knight of Roses". Though not undefeated, she has an impressive record and is an absolute fan favorite for her showmanship, her prowess and her general demeanor, as she can often be found tending her public garden with locals during her off time.

The Mana Family

District: Tano

Color: Gold

Symbol: Hammer

The Mana family are known for innovation and it should be no surprise that their district is one of the more distinct districts in Cherut Das. Even before they were on the Council, the Mana family was known for their skilled craft work and clever inventions. The mail tubes that transfer packages all over the Tano district, the collapsible ladders, even the levee and floatation system that the city uses to make sure that there are minimal losses in case of a sea breach are all thanks to the Mana family.
The youngest member of the council, the mehune Pelani has been on the Council for over a decade, despite the fact that she's only 16. A recognized genius and prodigy, she is wise beyond her years and has garnered the respect of everyone on the Council in spite of her age. At first, she used her youthful demeanor as a way of lowering her rivals guards, but they soon wised up to the fact that this child's presence wasn't any insult, but a threat.
Though not officially part of the family, the family champion for the Mana family has long been in service to them. Kakoom, a vrii, arrived on Cherut Das decades ago in his quest to help the Great Machine, but over time decided that Cherut Das was his true home. A frightfully tough figure, Kakoom is always an intimidating sight to behold during any contest.

The Glim Family

District: Roku

Color: Emerald

Symbol: Mountain

Until the Kaleo family joined the council, the Glim family was the newest on to arrive. However, they are still the newest of the families to arrive on Cherut Das, first arriving only a few decades ago. The first arrival, the cha'ari Allo'neeri, is still in charge of the family to this day. They specialize in what they other families can't do: getting information and items somewhere fast. While they can't transport fine goods in bulk or raw materials like the other families, thanks to their ability to fly they can easily get where they need to be and bring what they need to bring faster than anybody else.
The Council member for the Glim family has a bit of a reputation for stirring up trouble. Yim, whose colorful feathers and sense of style make him stand out, has been known to purposefully cause arguments during Council meetings to explicitly try to divide the group as much as possible. Hes even been caught mimicking other members voices to meet this goal on occasion. His reasoning being that a house divided is easier to conquer and his results show that he may be on to something.
The Glim family's champion made their first appearance just recently. A young cha'ari named Rook has taken up the mantle with mixed results. While surprisingly adept in confrontations as most other champions have little to no experience against opponents that can fly, his crowd work is practically non-existent. To combat this frustrating lack of experience, he does seem to be trying to make himself known in the district, but he seems to be having little to no success.

The Kahale Family

District: Ehiku

Color: Crimson

Symbol: Cennas

The Kahale family, along with the Sztharaxycus family are the only founding families left on the Council. However, their reputation has been won not through favor, but through fear. The Kahale's are the richest and most powerful family on the Council, and by extension, Cherut Das. They make their money through completely legitimate means, but they do happen to own most of the buildings and available land in their own district and many others. While that is their primary source of income, its becoming increasingly difficult to find an industry in Cherut Das that the Kahales don't have a stake in.
The Council seat for the Kahale's has been filled by the same mehune for the past six decades, their family patriarch Haku. Haku has a reputation for being shrewd, coercing and clever, but also honorable of all things. Newcomers will describe Haku as being able to look right through them and their lies, which is surprising for a blind man. As the most senior member of the Council, he often ends up leading discussion, which also means he ends up getting what he wants most of the time.
The Kahale family has no champion, but not for the reasons one might think. During the last inter-family dispute against the Kahales, the Kalaahani family sent out their finest champion. However, upon arriving they found their opponent was the Patriarch Haku. Though the champion could certainly best Haku in any physical competition, the message was clear and he submitted without a moment's hesitation rather than face the Cennas' wrath.

Type

Geopolitical, City council

Government System

Oligarchy

Location

Cherut Das, The Floating City

Controlled Territories

• The City Center