Archived-Conclave mechanics

Conclave

The Conclave is the meeting of Clan and Covenant Heads that happens twice a year, at the second session of Conclave and Noctis.

History

The Conclave evolved from the agreement made between the Covenants arriving in Australia through the Gold Rush decades and the unaligned Council of Clans that already existed. In return for the Covenants aiding in re-taking Sydney from the Nemites, the Council of Clans was expanded to include seats for Covenant representatives.

Because of various power plays and counter plays over the years, a series of precedents have developed:

• An indivicdual can hold a Seat at the Conclave for a single year before someone else must take that Seat (ie, you could be Clan Head for the Noctis session and the Conclave session following, but someone else has to take that Seat for the Noctis sesssion after that)
• Even if an invidudual has more than one Seat at the Conclave, they only get one vote (ie, while you could be Clan Head and Covenant Head at the same time, but you'd only get one vote, not two.)
• A Clan or Covenant Head's term ends before the beginning of Conclave or Noctis. The OOC welcome dinner makes all Seats empty IC.

How to become a Clan or Covenant Head

As always, snatching power comes in a variety of flavours. Politicing, making deals and threats or simply demonstrating power can make someone a Clan or Covenant Head. Either way, the relevant Clan or Covenant meeting at Conclave/Noctis is where the decision is made. This is based on the philosophy that we're playing a Live Action game, and so a Live Action session is the best place to resolve political drama like this, rather than allowing it to be resolved via email between session.

Mechanically, disputes over legitimacy are resolved in a method similar to that of resolving Praxis claims. The various claimants tally up the amount of Status in the room, and whoever has the most supporting them is the legitimate claimant.

Note that players unable to attend the Conclave/Noctis can still effect the outcome of this session via the rules for Proxy Status.

What a Clan or Covenant Head can do

Ultimately, a Clan of Covenant Head has exactly as much power as they can convince people that they have. While some will be able to dictate policy nation wide, others will find themselves little more than a puppet to the true powers.

Mechanically, a Clan or Covenant Head has the capacity to modify the relevant Status of anyone in the country.

What the Conclave can do

Similar to individial Clan and Covenant Heads, the Conclave itself has exactly as much power as people beleive that it has. Historically Princes have been toppled by the Conclave, but that again Princes have also been toppled by their own hubris.