Election of a Tower Leader

Table of Contents

Classroom Help—Election of a Tower Leader

Power is everything in the City of the Hundred Fiefs. It not only determines who becomes a lord or lady, but also who get to represent their fellow citizens, for what other quality could matter more than this?

What is a tower leader?

The most powerful person among the inhabitants of a tower

The spokesperson of all other inhabitants with their lord or lady

The one making sacrifices to the Imperial Shades in the name of the tower

Ceremony

Set-up:
Every 5 years, all inhabitants of a tower gather as they can in a few floors next to the central gathering point of that tower. Everyone puts on a blindfold, and the previous spokesperson starts the ritual fire with special herbs and call for the guidance of the Imperial Shades. This fills the rooms with a smoke that enhance people's senses and state of mind.
Process:
Everyone then has to move around blindly, only guided by what they can perceive of the magic around them. That way, they stumble onto each other until they come across the person in the room with the most powerful magic.
The entire election ceremony is usually done in waves during which groups of participants move from room to room, as thousands of people cannot easily all swarm around the same person. When someone has made their choice, they announce it and take their blindfold off. That choice is recorded by a witness from another tower—with witness chosen expressly to be people without strong magic—and they then move out of the way.
Results:
The process continues until everyone has chosen, and votes are then counted. Usually, there is a clear majority for one candidates. If results are closer together, what to do depends on the tradition of each tower: some like to re-blindfold everyone to make them choose between the top candidates, while other decide the results by acclamation, or to simply choose the one with the most votes.

Origin of the tradition

Empire
This tradition was started in the ancient Elante Empire after the death of an emperor to find a new one.

Candidates
The choice was made between the members of all past imperial families and important general and powerful people.

Voters
Only the nobles of the empire voted, themselves chosen by past emperors among the most powerful citizens.

Of course, if power determines who gets a title, then not everyone is content and civilised enough to wait for the next election ceremony or even for the entirety of the ceremony,. Many impetuous candidates have preferred to settle the question over a barbaric duel...

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Related articles

The City of the Hundred Fiefs

Territories The City of the Hundred Fiefs · Geography (The world's strongest magic hotspot, The cave system under the city) · Fiefs (The Fief of Glass, The Diviner Fief) · Neutral areas (The Council's Palace) Politics Government system (Lords and Ladies of the Fiefs, The Council) · Conflict (The ongoing Elantian civil war, Lord Adélème's fanclub, The Resistance against the New Empire, Water sickness, Previous inhabitants of the Fief of Perfumes) · Lords & ladies (Lord Adélème of Spinner, Lady Olénie) Magic Dangers (Seasonal magic flood, Magical corrosion, Are the magic currents under the city expanding?, Basement kraken) · Technologies (Tower wards, Ward pins, Tasty Treat) · Magic system (Runes, Glass and Magic Lenses) Culture History (The Return of the Empire, Dragonic magic manifestations, The Last Emperor's Experimental Notes, The Ruins of the Ancient city of Elante, Anti-imperial sigil) · Travellers (Trading caravans, Travelling healers, Divination Sessions) · Others (Lord Adélème's Tower, Tower cats, The Worship of the Imperial Family, Election of a Tower Leader, Spying Devices)