The League leadership

The League cities are ruled by the Empire but they are run by the Carta - sprawling organisations that are a cross between a merchant family and a trading concern. The largest are headed by a Merchant Prince or Princess - an honorific title for the most powerful individuals that harks back to pre-Imperial times. The most powerful merchants choose the League Senators but beyond this they leave the governorship of the cities to Imperial rule, allowing them to concentrate on increasing the wealth of their Carta.

The Carta of the League cities are not merely a matter of blood, but of oaths and loyalties. Anyone may pledge their loyalty to a Carta, though some require you to marry an existing family member to be truly regarded as one of them. Equally, it isn’t required to be part of Carta to get ahead in the League, but it is essential not to cross them. Those who do find every door closed to them. If you cross a Bravo they might break your fingers; cross a Merchant Princess and she’ll ruin you.

Loyalty and rules are the basis of League society. The written rules are the Imperial Laws and breaking them is considered an act of utter desperation. To reduce an enemy to the point where they are caught breaking the law to try to keep their head above water is considered by many to be the ultimate defeat that you can inflict, the final mark of shame. Assassination, theft and murder only happen if a citizen of the League has no other card left to play, and in the knowledge that they have already lost.

For hundreds of years the Carta have engaged in ruthless competition with each other. It is a mistake to assume that the League is obsessed with money. Wealth is simply the easiest way of keeping score. Favours are more valuable than gold, because they represent the ability to influence others. In the same way, every Carta keeps a count of those who have worked against their interests in the past, because such offences represent a debt that is still to be repaid. This can be a bewildering system to outsiders, lost in the subtle play of politics and trade. The Carta call it simply “Dead Reckoning” and would not have it any other way.

Each territory in the League sends one Senator to the Imperial Senate. Any citizen of the League can have a say in the identity of their Senator - provided they are influential enough. Where less advanced societies may select their Senator on the basis of simply piling up large amounts of actual money, the League takes a more sensible approach. Only the opinions of those who are "stakeholders" in the League matter, and the League defines these stakeholders as individuals with a minimal degree of economic influence. The Civil Service compiles and maintains records of which individuals meet this criteria, and they are allocated a number of votes based on the size of their economic investment in League society. These votes are represented by offical "stakeholder bonds", and during an election Senatorial candidates try to convince the electors to give them their bonds to show their support. The bonds are then registered with the civil service. The candidate with the largest amount of support when the election ends, as represented by the value of their combined bonds, becomes the Senator.

Timing is important in League senatorial elections. Candidates must declare themselves before a given time, and after that time no more candidates are admitted. When the elections formally open, they continue until another specific time and then they absolutely close and no more bonds can be exchanged. Punctuality and good timekeeping are, after all, simply good manners in the League.

While the process itself is quite above-board, that does not prevent a fair degree of politicking behind the scenes. While uncommon, for example, it is not unknown for an individual to claim to be collecting bonds on behalf of one individual, only to then hand them over to another individual.