Archived-Conclave mechanics

Conclave

The Conclave is the meeting of Clan and Covenant Heads that happens each year at our national Conclave event.

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 final 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 sessions.

While players are free to create their own paths to success, and in fact encouraged to do so, disputes over legitimacy can be 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. Just as this technique isn't always used when there is a change of Prince, it isn't always used to decide the Clan or Covenant Head. It is the fallback method when other means of negotiation and roleplay have been exausted.

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.

What the Conclave can do

Similar to individual 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.

The situation with Zenobia in Brisbane in the 1960's is held up as an excellent example of the power of the Conclave: the Conclave condemned Zenobia for destroying a Harpy who publicly spoke up to demand she honour a Boon. At first this had little effect, as her hold over the Brisbane Domain was extremely strong. But over time the Conclave's offers of bounty and Boons to those who would work against her, as well as the calling in of existing debts to undermine her power base wore her down. Zenobia fled the Domain of Brisbane and has not been see since. Many offers of Bounty remain for proof of her destruction.

On small matters or for short periods, the Conclave can be defied easily enough. But if someone unites the most powerful members of every Clan and Covenant in the country against themselves, then no one can expect to come out ahead in the longer term.