Authority
The Xalmyrran Council is the main shared institution of Xalmyrra's four nations: Teryndal, Soltheris, Erenmyr, and Keldara. It is based at the Imperial Institute in Irrathis.
The council's insignia shows four circles surrounding a central circle for the four nations' unity. It is separate from Xalmyrra's national governments: Teryndal has a high arbiter, Soltheris has a king, Erenmyr has leaders, and Keldara has commanders.
Purpose & Function
The council sends mages, explorers, and scholars where Xalmyrra needs them most. It assigns missions into ruins and darkness-threatened territory, dispatches council mages to villages and towns, studies gates and artifacts, gathers field findings, and assembles elite mages for combat, evacuations, and emergency planning.
The council also handles diplomacy after Xalmyrra resumes direct contact with Valrindor. Aldar speaks for it in talks with Haverloch, acknowledges that Thalassai is already working with the council, and backs a Valrindor-wide council once peace is established.
Leadership & Membership
The council is led by a council head. Aldred is council head in ancient Xalmyrra, Aldar leads the council while Jorhan controls the cycles, and Brynor takes on the office after Aldar begins spending more time in the field.
The council includes members, council mages, explorers, scholars, scribes, attendants, workers, and field agents. The council hall is its meeting place for briefings, mission assignments, political arguments, maps, and emergency planning.
History
The council is ancient. Its seat in Irrathis gives Xalmyrra a shared center inside Teryndal, the region's administrative heart. Its public purpose is to unify the four nations against the darkness and preserve the world's balance.
When displaced atraxi reach Xalmyrra, Aldred Behn leads the council from Irrathis. He offers them housing and protection in exchange for useful skills. The council monitors essence overuse and spreading corruption. Aldred later takes Belanor into the hidden chambers beneath the council hall, where the council head is expected to protect a sealed power. This hidden duty traces back to Sariel, the council's founder, who sealed the shard beneath Irrathis and allowed the city to grow around that protected secret.
As council head, Aldar handles field findings and missions involving visions, ruins, the Land of Darkness, the Temple of no Return, Aurion's instability in Soltheris, the shard, and the cycles. Aldar uses the council to hold Xalmyrra's powers together. Eira, Lirien, Kaelion, Brynor, Mirael, Maelis, Lyssara, and Renneth carry out council assignments or take part in council decisions across the region.
After the cycles break, the council remains active under Brynor. Messages still travel to the Xalmyrran Council, Brynor speaks as council head, and the Imperial Institute remains a working command site. Xalmyrra prepares for threats beyond its borders.
Members
- Aldred: Ancient council head of Xalmyrra and protector of the hidden chambers beneath the hall.
- Aldar: Long-serving council head, strategist, diplomat, and spiral shard wielder.
- Brynor: Senior field mage and later council head.
- Kaelion: Soltheris mage and council member whose political experience carries into Valrindor diplomacy.
- Mirael: Divine mage, voice of reason in the council, and part of Brynor and Aldar's decision-making circle.
- Maelis: Council member responsible for the archives.
- Lyssara: Council member involved in decisions around Eira, the shard, and the tournament plan.
- Lirien: Explorer for the council and Eira's mentor.
- Aurion: Former king of Soltheris who later serves the council.
- Astheron: Former mentor to Aurion who serves the council and advises King Daryas of Soltheris.
- Renneth: Council mage and representative of Teryndal.