District Councillor – High Level Organisation, Taxation and Legislation

Technically separate from the Task Force, though in possession of more deciding power, the Councillors of each district are responsible for attending the Council chambers and voting in sessions there to pass emergency decrees during the crisi. In addition, their position as District leader has them distributing the funds that they receive through taxation, in order to help mitigate the damage caused by the crises.

Councillor Players are likely the most partisan Players in the game, thinking of the entire city second to the survival of their own district. The District Councillors are leaders and masters of the city inner workings, and they know that to get anything done, it requires funding. Their power is both implied by their position and enforced through real financial support to the different specialities in the task force. The Councillor role sees the Player not attending a Specialisation of their own, and instead has them negotiating and moving through the other Player’s spaces to put their thumb on the scale at precisely the right moment. They are duty bound to help the cause of saving the city, but surely the primacy of their own district serves as part of that? After all, the more power they accrue, the more good that can be done.

Demarcation -

Each Councillor Player starts the game with a voting power of one, represented by a physical token. Each time a vote goes their way in the council, that voting power will be increased by one. Every time that they are on the losing side of a vote, nothing happens. Voting power increases the number of votes on any policy for the side that they support. In this way Councillors are incentivised to vote with the greater good, and to align themselves with other colleagues who have proven to have the right in most circumstances. Perhaps there will be a right time to break from the pack and consolidate their own district’s power?

Taxation and Funding -

Each turn, depending on the health of their own district, a Councillor will receive an amount of taxation in their coffers in the form of the 'Funding' resource. The amount of this resource varies district by district, and will fluctuate further, based on the 'condition' of their citizens. Taxation is a District privilege and only the Councillor from a District can decide what happens with that District’s collected revenue. Each of the Specialisation Players within a District team will be appealing for funding during the following turn, so it is important for the Councillors to consider carefully where their funds will go for best affect.

Calling in Favours -

Considering their tremendous influence in the city Councillor Players will be able to rely on their networks of friends and favours to get things done where otherwise they may not be possible. At any time that the Councillor Player wishes to affect a result, aka; get additional information, reverse an unfavourable affect, they may ask Control to lower their voting power by one in order to influence the outcome. The exact outcome will be up to Control to decide, but by placing a thumb on the scale in this way, Councillors may be able to turn a decision when it matters most. Councillor Players must retain at least one voting power and may not call in a favour if doing so would leave them without at least one point in voting power.

Council Meetings -

During the Specialisation Phase, the Councillor Players may meet, either together or in subdivisions to discuss the future of the crisis and the state of the city. This is while the other Specialisations will be conducting their work for that turn. In this time they may draft policies which will be voted on in the Voting Phase. These policies can be anything from additional resources for a particular team, to emergency powers being given to a single council member. Like with calling in favours, if a vote is passed, the exact outcome will be interpreted by Control depending upon the story and circumstances but follow the spirit of the policy. Being more specific, will lead to a more specific result, whether that is desirable or not. Any policy that affects particular sections or Players will be left up to those in question to interpret or implement. Control will enforce legitimate changes to the rules, if successfully passed, but will never compel another player to acquiesces if a decree is using soft power. In such cases, enforcement will be left up to the Councillors to organise.

If a policy fails, nothing comes of it and any resources spent in furthering its chances are consumed. If a Councillor Player votes on a policy that subsequently passes, their voting power will increase by one. Decrees can change much about the game, including rules and rewards, should the policy be appropriately worded and supported. As a point of clarification; Policy, is the paper/missive suggesting a Decree. The 'Decree' is the passed law, should the policy vote be successful. A policy can reverse a decree.

The Chair -

At the start of the Debate Phase, the Councillors must all meet to elect a Chair for that sitting of the Council. The Chair role is able to manage the session, organises the order of policies on which to vote, and selects who will be allowed to speak, and who will not, in council. The sitting chair also selects, where the council sitting will take place, selecting a hex block on the city map to hold the session. At the beginning of the Organisational Phase, the Chair also announces any policies that have been passed during the previous Voting Phase, to the room at large. After the announcement, their powers are removed and a new vote must take place for the proceeding turn.

Votes for the Chair count towards increasing voting power. If the elected chair is not the Player with the most voting power, the Player with the most voting power may select one policy to discard before the vote takes place.

Voting Power -

The Voting Power Resource is abstract, meaning that it represents more the gravitas of the Player, rather than any particular possession. This means it is not possible to lie about how much voting power a Player has in council. If a Player is found to actively lie, Control will remove the reported number down to what they said, if understated, or if they overstate, the surplus over their actual power will be removed from their actual holding.

Funding -

Each District collects taxes for funding in a different way, and the amount that the Councillor will have access to will fluctuate based on different metrics, as outlined in the faction briefings. This is a diegetic resource, meaning that any Player may conceal, lie, or otherwise represent their total wealth in whatever fashion that they like. That being the case, they must still fund the Task Force, if their District is going to be represented in the other parts of the game. It would be wise for the Councillor Player to speak to the other members of their team and plan how much funding needs to go where, each turn.