The (New and improved (hopefully)) Silvermoon Council

The Silvermoon Council (Regency Advisory Board or whatever)

After a clear winner in the Council vote, a mix of both ministers and delegates of the factions in Silvermoon, I’ve begun to outline some idea of a Council. I’ve tried to take into account the current lore, and thought about what makes sense to a Sin’dorei. Comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Positions
Delegate of the Blood Knights
Delegate of the Farstriders
Delegate of the Magisters
Purely concerned with their specific factions, these three Councillors work to ensure their sub-factions dominance in Quel’thalas.
Grand Ambassador – Making sure the Horde does not forget Quel’thalas by subtly poking our objectives into Garrosh’s eyesight.
Minister of War – Examines how the Horde, and more specifically Quel’thalas, is doing in its eternal struggle with the Alliance, and whose aim it is to decrease our losses.

The Laws of the Land
I think the last Council had the Laws of Silvermoon down very well, and I’m hoping the new Council will have permission to continue to use them now. Here’s the link to the topic.
http://www.defiasrp.com/t2010-laws-of-silvermoon

Obviously the doubt of ‘what if they refuse to be arrested’ will arise. Silvermoon, as discussed by Orthas in another topic, is pretty much fascist, and any ‘runners’ would be punished severely. Obviously, we all want to enjoy the game, and if the overwhelming majority doesn’t like the way the Council is going, I think they’ll endeavour to change slightly so we can all have fun.

Prison
If the Court decides you are guilty, we do have a nice prison facility in the heart of the city.
http://www.defiasrp.com/t3072-silvermoon-prison-jail-cell

The Council should be a duty to Quel'thalas and its return to glory, not to be used by the councillors as a source of personal pride and power. To prevent massive corruption and inactivity, OOC elections will occur every so often. Every councillor will be equal to the others, though I suppose a chairman could be appointed to oversee each meeting so that they run smoothly.

As I say, any suggestions or comments about this vague plan are welcome.

I have one question; Are you interested to use the old Silvermoon Council group forum here on these boards, and if so who would be group moderator?


Edit; And ofcourse if that'd be ok for the old Silvermoon Council?

Yes, I think we'd like to make use of the old one. And I have no idea who would be moderator, no one has been elected.

Fine with me as well. Hopefully the old stuff left behind in it will be of help.

A question. Isn't the "Consul of Justice" pretty covering the Blood Knights responsibilities within Silvermoon City? (Law Enforcement).

Also, is there enough people active within the belf community right now to warrant a seven people council. People who are serious about it and want the responsibility?
Better have a small, active, council that works, and later might grow. Than a slightly bigger one where one, then two, then three become more and more inactive, killing it all.
As I said in the other thread. Just because someone isn't on the council shouldn't say that they can't be at meetings, and be allowed to put forward motions.

Personally I'd say cut the last two. One is covered by the Blood Knights, and I think somewhat by the Magisters (Since you do see magisters give out judgement in the streets).
The second one could be covered by the Magisters and Farstriders (Magisters in city, Farstriders (who are the army in many ways) making sure no one steals what belongs to the state out of the city.)
This will ake it five. Three more internal, two more external positions. (War I put as "mostly external" since most war you do want to fight outside your own terretory.) A number that is much better for what atleast think is the number of active Blood Elf roleplayers to manage.

Put you, Abulos, as group moderator for now, just so you can invite the members since I have no clue who that is. Let me know if you want someone else to be the group moderator later on.

Blood Knights are not the SCPD. They are the Knights of the Silver Hand of the Horde, holy warriors that are pretty much the heavy infantry of the Thalassian war machine, not presenting themselves as Scotland Yard.

I think seven is rather a small number when considering the amount of Blood Elves around. 20 were at the discussion, which didn't take into account the masses of Elves in their own guilds.

Abulos wrote:Blood Knights are not the SCPD. They are the Knights of the Silver Hand of the Horde, holy warriors that are pretty much the heavy infantry of the Thalassian war machine, not presenting themselves as Scotland Yard.

I think seven is rather a small number when considering the amount of Blood Elves around. 20 were at the discussion, which didn't take into account the masses of Elves in their own guilds.

With that many you'd both have a hard time getting them all together at the same time, and also to find council-related matters for all them to work with. 7 would be what I'd consider the maximum workable number for a belf council, taking into account waning interest as well.

Exciting... I might have fun popping by SMC now!

I suppose if the old stuff is still there, it might aswell be used >.> Not that I remember what was on there in the first place.

Has there been any thought on the "minimum" number of total Council members that have to be there to make legit decisions? And how often they are allowed to miss a meeting.

For Blood Elves that are somewhere else, fighting the good fight for example in Kalimdor, but would need to be at the Council meeting in Silvermoon, ethereal oil for all your Sunreaver inspired hologram needs (priest with levitate sold separately).

I'll use a real life example. The scout district I am in. Our district board coverers, a few thousand scouts of all ages. At the yearly big meetings there is anything between twohundred and fourhundred at the meetings.
How big is that board? I think they have seven members.
So no, five is not a rather small number for the amount of blood elves on the server. Big companies and corporatios generally have very big boards, but they also have thousand of employees and very clear cut issues and areas to deal with.
The more councilour you'll have, the smaller area they can work in. As it is I can't see very much that the "High Treasurer of the Vaults" would deal with. ICly. OOCly his/her mission is very clear cut. But from where would she/he find the things to talk and deal with for the meetings? Aside from if guilds come and demand economical aid for things. (And, if it was more than RP money. Who would give it out?)

And while twenty were at te discussion. How many of those would be willing to come to a meeting one every week/every two weeks (one a month is smoother to make time for)?
There is more people in the guild in full, but I'd take a guess that most intrested to take a big part of the bigger political play was at that meeting. Say, maybe 5-10 were not. Since most people don't find it (sadly) that fun, or don't care that much. And I'd be surprised if there are more than theehundred active blood elves Roleplaying on the server. Roleplaying with any messure of standard atleast. Not the Humans with long ears that tend to pester SMC.
I have been involved with boards IRL, and in most cases they try to keep them small for organizations. Especially ideal things. Your own time, for your own reward.
Not being negative. Just want it to work. And it's easier adding posts than cutting. If I'm wrong with seven being to many for the community.
But remember, -each- and every post needs to have a clear cut job, and area to handle to be valid. Otherwise it's just placefillers to have people sit at the meetings.

As it is three posts have this.
Grand Ambassador
Minister of War
Consul of Justice

The Grand Ambassador is easy. Basicly a minister of Forgin Affairs. He/She is to meddle with everyone else outside of SMC, make sure they are remembered and get their Due.
Minister of War, easy as well. War, D'uh.
Consul of Justice, also easy, since it's right in the discription.

The three first.
"Purely concerned with their specific factions, these three Councillors work to ensure their sub-factions dominance in Quel’thalas."
So, what is each factions responsibility? Where is their presence? In how many issues will they actually be needed and not just someone by the side, the silent guy in a Pen Paper group unsure of how to claim time to play. Who'll get bored and leave?

The last one I talked about above.

Every, and each, position needs to have clear and easy to understand issues, areas and authority. And they need to be easy to translate and play around. The last one has a clear cut position and authority, yet I wouldn't say it's easy to play around. It would also go along with having to guess/make up how big the treasury of Quel'Thalas is.

PS: Remember, in many ways the senates/parliaments/whateverthecountryfuckingcalls it is the board/council of a country. The government/administration the executive branch of that.
Most parliaments are between 300 and 500 members. And they cover a group of people far, far, far larger than the amount of Blood Elves on Defias.

PPS: Wops... this became a wall of text.

Wouldn't the "realistic" way to pick a number then be to count all the blood elf characters, pick a sort of representative government and then apply the government employee to population ratio?

And I'd be surprised if there are more than theehundred active blood elves Roleplaying on the server. Roleplaying with any messure of standard atleast.

I'll be very surprised if there's more than fifty.

I think we need to apply the doctrines of Keep It Simple, Stupid and Less Is More, at least at the start.
Complexity can always be added, but it's a pain to reduce later on.

After getting rid of the two of the original positions, I don't think I can cut any more out at this stage.

In regards to powers, I think two councillors should be able to make decisions. This gives the other three the power to overrule them. Alternatively, giving three councillors the power to make decisions could be better, as it could cut down on the possible corruption, though using this, the three could pass anything they wanted and the two remaining could do nothing.

Long live the council!
So far it looks quite promising to me.

The first three will need clear cut areas of influence. Yes, they have areas. But exactly what they cover isn't really clear.

Secondly, as a rule, a desition should always need atleast a minor majority. That would be more than 50% (So, 3/5th in this case)
Desitions about going to war, or other major things should need a major majority, or a full majority (75% or 100% resoectivly, which is 4/5th or 5/5th)

Muzjhath, your advice is noted.

The Farstriders will defend Quel'thalas' borders and the forests from more internal threats such as the Amani.
The Blood Knights will defend Silvermoon itself, acting as guardians for the city.
The Magisters will oversee all things magical, from the proper running of the sancta, Sunwell visiting privilages and to a minor degree, helping the Knights and Farstriders accomplish their tasks.

As to decision making, I also agree with your suggestions. Civil, day-to-day matters can be made with a minor majority, and more major decisions, perhaps we can deal with them as they come, on a case by case basis, whether to need a major or even full majority.

You are really getting this sorted, it sounds wicked. Can't wait to see it in work. Good luck and good job

Personally I'd prefer a large council were all the guilds are involved in, but it seems most are opposed to a large council.
I don't see how a small council will promote RP or get guilds to RP together since most guilds won't be involved.

As far as I reckon, a council like this doesn't need to be about a gathering of guilds; the intent is to bring blood elf RPers together in a lore-based political setting. So hopefully any guilds who were interested would be able to attend the meetings, have input, speak to/influence/assist the councillors, and be involved in other ways than having a seat. Political RP can be pretty fun, but it can also get dull if it -only- involves the councillors.

The guilds will be very much involved with the council. If they chose it as Vale states.
Just because they aren't on the council don't say they can't be around them, or ask things of them.

Well put Vale.

I think it's about time we started bringing everyone together. Though how to elect people, I have no idea. Any suggestions on how to vote?

Abulos wrote:Well put Vale.

I think it's about time we started bringing everyone together. Though how to elect people, I have no idea. Any suggestions on how to vote?

If there's anything I learned from the last round of silvermoon counciling, it was that putting something likes this up for a general IC vote turns the whole thing into a mess. RPing out the election dragged the whole thing out to the point where half the belf community had lost interest by the time the council was fully elected and could start doing something. It also made people bring their OOC opinions and disputes into the roleplay.

I'd say find a group of players that are OOCly motivated to make the council good, able to put in enough effort to do something with it, and who seem like they work well together and don't have any strong OOC objections against them from most of the community. Ideally they should be playing a character that IC'ly makes sense in the role, but ultimately you want to make sure that initial council has good and well-motivated players on it first and foremost.

Do this, then get everyone together and discuss OOCly which of the candidates will start out in the initial council. Remind people that no one is on the council for life if necessary.

IC'ly, any sort of council under the regent-lord's authority would likely have been appointed by him anyway with no input from the population at large.

The Blood knights are suppose to protect Silvermoon but they lack Subtlety and stealth preferring a more blunt and forceful approach, not very effective when your enemies are hiding and you can't find them.

I would like to suggest a position to add to the council, "Grand Inquisitor" to serve as a leader of the secret police within Silvermoon, to protect it from internal threats; Twilight cultists, those who speak out against Silvermoon's government, Alliance sympathizers, etc.

Job: investigate the people and guilds of Silvermoon to weed out protential threats and gather information to hand over to the Farstriders and Blood knights so they can dispense Justice or remove threats quietly themselves.

Comment to poster above:

Much like the non-existant ties the Stormwind Council has to the SI:7?