Advisor on the Vallorn

Latest revision as of 11:01, 6 November 2025

Overview

The Advisor on the Vallorn is an Imperial title that has undergone several significant changes since it was first established. The position was established by majority vote of the Senate in Spring 378YE, appointed by the Navarr senators and only available to Navarr citizens. During the Summer Solstice 387YE, following the formation of the Vallornguard Imperial Sodality, the role of the Advisor came under significant scrutiny. The Imperial Senate determined that the title should change; it ceased to be a Navarr position, instead being appointed by the Vallornguard, and responsibility for overseeing the Great Library of Hacynian passed to the Singer of the Silence. No additional powers or responsibilities were assigned to the title at the time, but the Senate voted to amend the title at the Autumn Equinox 387YE to give it the power to address the Military Council.

The Advisor on the Vallorn has been the target of several attacks by agents of the Whisper Gallery. These eternals appear to object to the Advisor's role in directing the Empire's historical research agenda. This was likely because prior to the Spring Equinox 384YE, the Advisor had the power to commission historical research. That power was removed following changes to how the Department was organised. It seems that this change has removed the eternals' dislike of the title; the threat to the Advisor has dissolved like morning mist.

Responsibilities

The title is responsible for advising the Senate on matters relating to the vallorn, and protecting the Empire from the influence of this mysterious force or entity.

Powers

Address the Senate

The Advisor on the Vallorn has the right to make an address to the Senate once per summit. This is intended to allow them to present important information for the Senate's consideration. It is extremely impolite not to inform the Speaker's seat of your intention to use the Right of Address in advance of a session.

The Advisor speaks to the Senate, but is often prepared to offer expert assistance to anyone who needs it.

Address the Council

The Advisor on the Vallorn has the right to make a address to the Imperial Military Council once per summit. This is intended to allow them to advise the Military Council on matters pertaining to the vallorn. To use this power, the Advisor informs the Herald of the Council that they wish to make an address, which will then be added to the agenda for the next Council session.

Appointment

The Advisor on the Vallorn is appointed during the Autumn Equinox each year by members of the Vallornguard.

Any Imperial citizen can hold this title. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.

Publication

Notes presented to the Imperial Senate by Neb, a previous Advisor on the Vallorn, have been made available to anyone who is interested.

Nathair Autumngale has made two reports available: one on the Heirs of the Terunael, and the other on the Terunael mineworkings. Nathair has also made an overview report available to clear up some common misconceptions around vallorn and Navarr.

The Advisor on the Vallorn has also commissioned a number of historical research projects. Details of these projects can be found here.

Seren Embercast, Advisor on the Vallorn

Summit	Nation	Elected
Autumn Equinox 387YE	Navarr	Seren Embercast
Spring Equinox 384YE	Navarr	Nathair Autumngale
Summer Solstice 382YE	Navarr	Siân Eternal
Spring Equinox 380YE	Navarr	Siân Eternal
Winter Solstice 378YE	Navarr	Neb
Spring Equinox 378YE	Navarr	Merel Pathfinder

Recent Elections

This title is currently held by Seren Embercast; it will be reelected at Autumn Equinox 388YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.

History

The Advisor on the Vallorn was originally created to provide the Senate with advice on the vallorn, but the title soon became the focal point for Navarr and the wider Empire's efforts to destroy the ancient enemy after the position was given the power to commission historical research.

The Advisors continued to gather information and research on the vallorn culminating in the writing of the seminal text, "On the Nature of the Vallorn" by the Advisor at the time, Siân Eternal. The book brought together everything that was known on the subject and in the years following publication it formed the focal point of the research commissioned at the Great Library of Hacynian. When the results of that research were released it was clear just how instrumental the title had been.

With the formation of the Vallornguard Imperial Sodality in 387YE, however, the title came under additional scrutiny. A title so closely connected to understanding and advising about the threat of the vallorn, which had originally been a specifically Navarr position, was ruled to be unconstitutional in its current form. The Senate ultimately chose to make it an Imperial position appointed by the new Sodality.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Category:Navarr]][[Category:Title]][[Category:Senate]]
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Vallornguard sodality.png|title=Vallornguard|align=left|width=220}}
 ==Overview==
-The Advisor on the Vallorn is an [[Imperial title]] that may be held by any [[Navarr]]. The position was established by [[Create title of Advisor on the Vallorn|majority vote of the Senate]] in Spring 378YE.
+The Advisor on the Vallorn is an [[Imperial title]] that has undergone several significant changes since it was first established. The position was established by [[Create title of Advisor on the Vallorn|majority vote of the Senate]] in Spring 378YE, appointed by the [[Navarr]] [[senator|senators]] and only available to Navarr citizens.  During the Summer Solstice 387YE, following the [[Eight_for_a_wish|formation]] of the [[Vallornguard]] [[Imperial Sodality]], the role of the Advisor came under [[Eight_for_a_wish#Role_of_the_Advisor|significant scrutiny]]. The Imperial Senate [[387YE_Summer_Solstice_Senate_sessions#Redefine_Advisor_on_the_Vallorn|determined]] that the title should change; it ceased to be a Navarr position, instead being appointed by the Vallornguard, and responsibility for overseeing the [[Great Library of Hacynian]] passed to the [[Singer of the Silence]]. No additional powers or responsibilities were assigned to the title at the time, but the Senate voted to [[387YE_Autumn_Equinox_Senate_sessions#Amend_Advisor_on_the_Vallorn|amend the title]] at the Autumn Equinox 387YE to give it the power to address the [[Military Council]].
-The Advisor of the Vallorn has been the target of several attacks by agents of the [[Whisper Gallery]]. These [[eternal|eternals]] appear to [[Bloody_murder|object]] to the Advisor's role in directing the Empire's [[historical research]] agenda.
+The Advisor on the Vallorn has been the target of several attacks by agents of the [[Whisper Gallery]]. These [[eternal|eternals]] appear to [[Bloody_murder|object]] to the Advisor's role in directing the Empire's [[historical research]] agenda. This was likely because prior to the Spring Equinox 384YE, the Advisor had the power to commission [[historical research]]. That power [[385YE_Spring_Equinox_Senate_sessions#Amend_Historical_Research|was removed]] following [[A_long_December#Hold_On_To_These_Moments|changes]] to how the [[Historical_research#The_Department_of_Historical_Research|Department]] was organised. It seems that this change has removed the eternals' dislike of the title; the threat to the Advisor has dissolved like morning mist.
 ==Responsibilities==
-The title is responsible for advising the Senate on matters relating to the [[vallorn]], and protecting the Empire from the influence of this mysterious force or entity. As custodian of the Great Library of Hacynian,  if the commission were to be threatened in any way, it would be their responsibility of the Advisor to deal with those threats. Likewise, if any [[opportunity]] relating to the library presented itself, they would make any decisions needed to take advantage of that.
+The title is responsible for advising the Senate on matters relating to the [[vallorn]], and protecting the Empire from the influence of this mysterious force or entity.
 ==Powers==
-===Historical Research===
+===Address the Senate===
-The advisor has the power to authorize a single [[historical research]] request each season. The civil service is able to process up to ''two'' research requests in total per season - research requests authorized by the Senate, the advisor or the [[Minister of Historical Research]] all count against this limit. The results of the research are compiled by the civil service then presented to the advisor.
+The Advisor on the Vallorn has the right to [[Senate address|make an address]] to the Senate once per summit. This is intended to allow them to present important information for the Senate's consideration. It is extremely impolite not to inform the Speaker's seat of your intention to use the Right of Address in advance of a session.
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Advisory Advisors Advising.jpg|align=right|caption=The Advisor speaks to the Senate, but is often prepared to offer expert assistance to anyone who needs it.|width=500}}
+===Address the Council===
+The Advisor on the Vallorn has the right to make a [[Council address|address]] to the [[Imperial Military Council]] once per summit. This is intended to allow them to advise the Military Council on matters pertaining to the vallorn. To use this power, the Advisor informs the [[Herald of the Council]] that they wish to make an address, which will then be added to the agenda for the next [[Council session]].
-To use this power, the advisor provides an [[Senate_announcement|announcement]] to the Civil Service, who present the decision to the [[Imperial Senate]]. No voting is possible by the Senate at this point, as the power has been delegated to the advisor. The [[Imperial Synod]] may, however, choose to exercise their [[veto]] over the advisor's decision.
-===Right of Address===
-The Advisor on the Vallorn has the right to [[Senate address|make an address]] to the Senate once per summit. This is intended to allow them to present important information for the Senators consideration. It is extremely impolite not to inform the Speaker's seat of your intention to use the Right of Address in advance of a session.
-{{CaptionedImage|file=VallornAdvisor.jpg|align=right|title=The advisor speaks to the Senate, but is often prepared to offer expert assistance to anyone who needs it. |caption=Merel Pathfinder (centre) advises General Merryn (right) and General Carr (left)|width=500}}
-===Declaration of Interdiction===
-Once per summit, the Advisor on the Vallorn can raise a [[Declaration#Declaration of Interdiction|Declaration of Interdiction]] to the agenda of a [[Conclave session]] without spending crystal mana. They follow all other rules and guidelines for submitting an article for the Conclave agenda (it must be in advance, with the assistance of a civil servant, and they are responsible for any [[Declaration#Presentation|presentation]]).
-===Custodian of the Great Library===
-The Advisor has [[New_Imperial_titles#Custodian|custodianship]] of the [#The_Great_Library_of_Hacynian|Great Library of Hacynian]] in [[Hercynia]]. They are not automatically assumed to be involved in the day to day operation of the library but are assumed to direct those efforts. The custodian cannot take any action that would require a legal power to authorize, such as [[Powers_of_the_Imperial_Senate#Abrogation|abrogating]] or [[Powers_of_the_Imperial_Senate#Concedence|ceding]] the commission (which are powers of the [[Imperial Senate]]).
 ==Appointment==
-The Advisor on the Vallorn is appointed by unanimous decision of the [[Navarr]] [[senator|senators]]. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title [[Appointments_by_the_Senate#National_Position|may be appointed]] by the [[Imperial Senate]] instead.
+The Advisor on the Vallorn is appointed during the Autumn Equinox each year by members of the Vallornguard.
+Any Imperial citizen can hold this title. They can be [[revocation|revoked]] by the [[Assembly#General_Assembly|General Assembly]], and by the [[Assembly#Assembly_of_the_Nine|Assembly of the Nine]].
-The title can be held by a Navarr citizen. The advisor has [[Imperial_title#Term_of_office|tenure]], and serves until they die or step down. They can be [[revocation|revoked]] by the [[Assembly#General_Assembly|General Assembly]], the Navarr [[Assembly#The_National_Assemblies|National Assembly]], and by the [[Assembly#Assembly_of_the_Nine|Assembly of the Nine]].
 ==Publication==
-Notes presented to the Senate by Neb, a previous Advisor on the Vallorn, have been made available to anyone who is interested - [[File:Vallorn Notes.pdf]].
+Notes presented to the Imperial Senate by '''Neb''', a previous Advisor on the Vallorn, have been [[:File:Vallorn_Notes.pdf|made available]] to anyone who is interested.
+'''Nathair Autumngale''' has made two reports available: one on the [[Heirs of the Terunael report|Heirs of the Terunael]], and the other on the [[Report on Terunael mineworkings|Terunael mineworkings]]. Nathair has also made an [[:File:History in your Hand.pdf|overview report]] available to clear up some common misconceptions around vallorn and Navarr.
 The Advisor on the Vallorn has also commissioned a number of [[historical research]] projects. Details of these projects can be found [[Historical_research#Recent_Historical_Research|here]].
+{{CaptionedImage|file=Seren Embercast.jpg|caption='''Seren Embercast''', Advisor on the Vallorn|align=left|width=250}}
 {{RecentElections|Advisor_on_the_Vallorn}}
-==The Great Library of Hacynian==
-The Great Library of Hacynian is a [[folly]] constructed with small amounts of [[weirwood]], [[white granite]], and [[mithril]], and incorporates parts of an older Terunael structure. It was built at Mourning Hollow, an old battlefield on the south-eastern borders of [[Hercynia#Summersend|Summersend]], in [[Hercynia]].
-The new building has been constructed as much as possible in the style of the old ruins, incorporating their original stone wherever possible. The structure is not especially large, but it is exceptionally beautiful, filled with shelves of scrolls and parchments written by students of Navarr history. It also incorporates a small shrine dedicated to the virtue of [[Wisdom]]. The shrine is lit by a single lightstone held by a wooden candlestick with swirling vines carved on its surface. The candlestick is another relic of the ancient temple. Carved by Jhessail Cedny, one of the founders of the nearby [[steading]] of Foxden, the candlestick apparently also sat in the original library before it was destroyed by the Vard.
+==History==
+The Advisor on the Vallorn was originally created to provide the Senate with advice on the vallorn, but the title soon became the focal point for Navarr and the wider Empire's efforts to destroy the ancient enemy after the position was given the power to commission historical research.
-In the central chamber sits a large weirwood table, the surface engraved with intricate swirling patterns and serving as a focus for [[blood magic]] of the [[Navarr_magical_traditions#Vates|vates]] who visit the library to study. In the middle of the table rests a battered cauldron, the ''Bowl of [[Phaleron]]'', which once served as a [[:Category:Paraphernalia|covenstone]] for the magicians who tended the original library.
+The Advisors continued to gather information and research on the vallorn culminating in the writing of the seminal text, "On the Nature of the Vallorn" by the Advisor at the time, Siân Eternal. The book brought together everything that was known on the subject and in the years following publication it formed the focal point of [[The bones of what you believe|the research commissioned at the Great Library of Hacynian]]. When [[A thousand years of longing|the results of that research were released]] it was clear just how instrumental the title had been.
-===History===
-Mounring Hollow was for a very long time [[Rubies on the Snow|haunted]] by the unquiet spirits of dead [[Varushka|Vard]] and [[Navarr]] warriors, apparently trapped there as the result of some forgotten curse or betrayal. Following a heroic expedition to the Hollow in Winter 379YE, there have been no further sightings of ghosts. The same expedition located the ruins of an old building, a so-called "Temple of Phaleron" dedicated to the [[eternal]] of [[Phaleron|the same name]]. Built in a peculiar [[regio]] that seemed to cycle alignment between Day and Night realms, there was evidence that the temple was once a large library built by the Terunael people of the city of Hacynian (from which the entire territory takes its name).
-In Spring 381YE the [[Imperial Senate]] voted to [[Construct_the_Great_Library_of_Hacynian|restore]] the library there. Work on the new structure was quickly completed, shortly before the Summer Solstice 381YE, and the first librarians and archaeologists arrived within the week. Not much is known about the history of the original structure, although the interest of Phaleron is obvious. There is some evidence that at least one other eternal, perhaps [[Sung]] or the [[Whisper Gallery]] have an interest in the area as well. The eternals' influence presumably cycles along with the peculiar regio.
-===Terunael Lorekeeper===
-There was briefly an [[Imperial title]] - '''Terunael Lorekeeper''' - created to oversee the library but that role was effectively abrogated when the Senate passed a motion to [[Amend powers of the Advisor on the Vallorn|amend]] the powers of the Advisor on the Vallorn granting them [[New_Imperial_titles#Custodian|custodianship]] of the library. The Lorekeeper was expected to take on a specific oath: "''I will protect the Library for as long as I can''." The oath was apparently that sworn by a pre-Imperial Navarri vate whose spirit was kept captive in Mourning Hollow by the grim magic of a [[volodny]]. The tormented spirit was freed in 379YE when this oath was taken up by the heroic explorers visiting Mourning Hollow to deal with the dark curses found there.
-<!--
-==Terunael Lorekeeper==
-The Terunael Lorekeeper is an [[Imperial title]].
-===Responsibilities===
-The Lorekeeper is responsible for overseeing the Great Library of Hacynian, and protecting the lore stored there.
-===Powers===
-The Lorekeeper has no legal powers.
-===Appointment===
-The Terunael Lorekeeper is appointed by unanimous decision of the [[Navarr]] [[senator|senators]]. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title [[Appointments_by_the_Senate#National_Position|may be appointed]] by the [[Imperial Senate]] instead.
-The title can be held by any Navarr citizen. The Lorekeeper has [[Imperial_title#Term_of_office|tenure]], and serves until they die or step down. They can be [[revocation|revoked]] by the [[Assembly#General_Assembly|General Assembly]], the Navarr [[Assembly#The_National_Assemblies|National Assembly]], and by the [[Assembly#Assembly_of_the_Nine|Assembly of the Nine]]. -->
+With the formation of the [[Vallornguard]] Imperial Sodality in 387YE, however, the title came under additional scrutiny. A title so closely connected to understanding and advising about the threat of the vallorn, which had originally been a specifically Navarr position, was ruled to be unconstitutional in its current form. The Senate ultimately chose to make it an Imperial position appointed by the new Sodality.
+{{Vallorn links}}
 <!--
 The
@@ Line 71: / Line 57: @@
 ooc: The item ID for the candlestick is 9968 and the ID of the bowl is 9989
 -->
+[[Category:Title]][[Category:Vallorn]]

Advisor on the Vallorn

Latest revision as of 11:01, 6 November 2025

Contents

Overview

Responsibilities

Powers

Address the Senate

Address the Council

Appointment

Publication

Recent Elections

History

Further Reading

Profound Decisions[edit | | ]

Community[edit | | ]

Wiki Editors[edit | | ]