The town is ruled by the wise Patriarch Franz Mentzer, a solemn, one-eyed warrior-priest referred to by his subjects as the Unseeing Regent. The good Patriarch spent his youth ranging across northern Morrain and much of the Northlands in the defense of the weak, but his days as a wild rover ended when Draighoch, the fell umbra drake, began its campaign of terror above Cillamar. Mentzer and his band of dragonslayers finally ran the dragon to ground, and in the ensuing epic battle, the drake’s shadow magic slew five of the heroes, including Mentzer’s sister, then Lady Mayor of Cillamar. Whether or not Draighoch itself was slain, only Mentzer can say, and the priest refuses to speak of the conflict. Regardless, the depredations of the dragon have ended, and Mentzer reluctantly assumed his sister’s place, becoming Lord Mayor of Cillamar.
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The Lord Mayor is advised by a council of nobles. Every member of the Cillamar aristocracy has the right to advise their lord, but in practice most families assign a single delegate to attend the court. During times of strife, the family patriarchs turn out, filling the Lord’s great hall with their raucous demands. The Patriarch also has the right to demand Lord’s Quietude, ejecting the nobles from his halls, silencing his detractors and exacting martial law over Cillamar, but when the Quietude is lifted, the nobles are permitted a vote of confidence. A majority vote from the nobles in attendance is sufficient to depose the Lord of Cillamar, with the title falling to the next in line. The Lord’s Quietude has been executed only once in the town’s history, when Cillamar was fighting off the attacks of the dragon Benthosruthsa.
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