Chapter 49 : Elkshire

• They were talking in the hallway about a place she had heard of but never been, a town called Elkshire. Sometimes referred to as the "Kingsmen Capital", Elkshire was a forest town and the most prominent of the eastern region. The town itself was relatively unremarkable with two notable exceptions. The first: that the Council of the Kingsmen was seated in Elkshire and from there they judged the Kingsmen from throughout the empire. The second: that Elkshire was itself a city-state, entirely independent of Altruon and its government.
• It was vital that Altruon and Elkshire should remain in each other's good graces. Diplomatic relations were vital between the two states, and they were quickly falling to pieces, because the man the Council sent to Pyre was the same man that Zephyr was hölle-bent to destroy.
• The Kingsmen Council consisted of seven representatives from each of the regions throughout Altruon - Euphess to the south, Arymn to the west, Pergum to the southeast, Tyra to the northwest, Sa'ar to the north, Delphi to the northeast, and Laoce to the southwest. These representatives were elected each year at a regional meeting of the area's overseers and sent to Elkshire to rule there. Together, the seven would send forth proclamations, execute judgements, settle disputes, allocate resources, and govern the Kingsmen body. It was, also, within their power to declare war, though that had never been done in all the years of the Council's existence.