Caste of Councilors
Where was it?
When I introduced Eric’s Council in Finding My Lich, my first draft held much more description of the Councilors and their Castes. You’ll see some of the Councilors showing up again in other books, but for FML it was just too much information that wasn’t directly relevant to the story.
The Builder Caste was the largest, including such diverse races as gorgons, trolls, and satyrs, among others. These were the races who preferred to create—the farmers, artists, cooks, and builders. The Senior Builder Councilor was a cyclops builder named Paul Merten who had long been a supporter of Eric’s, namely because Eric enforced the peace that allowed him to indulge in the grand building projects he loved without seeing them quickly destroyed in battles. Next came the gorgon, Morgan Amber – an accomplished sculptor and, Eric thought, a customarily pleasant woman though he often thought she was too naturally shy to be a Councilor. She didn’t speak often but he had learned to pay attention when she did as she only spoke when she had something important to say. The newest Builder Councilor was Gregory Templeton, an ogre from the Plains Reaches clan. It was not Eric’s adoptive clan so he was an unknown. Eric didn’t have a reliable read on him yet.
The Warrior Caste was next largest and included basilisks, harpies, and others who enjoyed the games of strength that battles provided. In this time of peace, they mostly proved their battle skills hunting the wild creatures of Abaddon to provide meat for themselves and the other Castes as, aside from a few Earth-like horses, Abaddon wildlife was too savage for domestication. The Senior Warrior Councilor, Erika Hunze was a gryphon, who for reasons he had never understood profoundly disliked Eric, though she was a conscientious Councilor. Conversely, Cliff Morda, the second-ranked Warrior, was an orc intensely loyal to him to a to a level he honestly found a bit disturbing. Eric wondered exactly what he had done to inspire such fierce devotion because he really didn’t have a clue. Edmond Hines the minotaur rounded out the Warrior Council, however, and sided both for and against Eric in equal measures, evening it out.
The smallest but most influential of Castes was the Thinker Caste. Comprised of those races preferring intellectual pursuits, the Thinker Caste Councilors had each served longer than most of the other Council members combined. Once the Thinker Caste came to a collective decision—which very often took decades—it rarely changed. The Senior Councilor Gwendolyn Minella was a siren who had served almost since the beginning of Eric’s reign. Nyla Kilbride the hydra followed soon after, and Jarod Rager the manticore had been chosen within weeks after her. They provided the balance between the usually hot-headed and resistant-to-change Warrior Caste and the more progressive Worker Caste by providing a steady, well-thought-out counterbalance to any extremes.