The League leadership

If you cross a bravo they might break your fingers; cross a merchant prince and they’ll ruin you.

The League cities are administered by the Empire but they are run by the guilds. These economic affiliations draw members from every section of League society united by common interests and a desire to work together to acquire wealth. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. Today only a few guilds limit themselves to just one craft, most have expanded to cover any activities they can draw profit from.

Each guild is headed by a merchant prince - an honorific title for the most economically powerful individuals that harks back to pre-Imperial times. The title is the same for men or women, a mark of respect for Aldones di Sarvos, the League's first merchant prince. Together the most powerful merchants choose their senators but beyond this they usually leave the administration of the cities to the civil service, allowing them to concentrate on increasing the wealth of their guild.

The guilds are not merely a matter of shared interests, but also of oaths and loyalties. Membership of a guild represents one of the most important loyalties a citizen of the League can hold. It is considered at least equal in importance to the loyalty owed to the League, the Empire and one's city. Those who betray their guild find every door closed to them and face exclusion from society and economic life. This is a short road to ruin in the League, a fate that most citizens will do anything to avoid. It is their ability to apply these sanctions that gives the guilds much of the power and influence they wield.

Leading a territory

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 with a degree of economic influence in the League matter . The Civil Service compiles and maintains records of which individuals meet this criterion, and they are allocated a number of votes based on the size of their investment in League society. These votes are represented by offical "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.