I think this could be very interesting, and actually make the game more exciting

But I think the real counsil
design should be worked on until it\'s as perfect as it can be. I\'d suggest several meetings through mIRC or something between choice members from the community and development team who can discuss and debate each other\'s ideas in an intelligent way.
I think guilds should function independantly, but with a few (depending on size) members that they can choose to represent them in the counsil if they want. These chosen members will represent the guild\'s needs and propositions.
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Now, my idea for a big counsil would be made up of \"layers\".
\"Lower Layers\":There are two lower layers.
One is made up of choosen citizens from every city. In the citys, people will vote for who they want to represent them (the candidates can be anybody and they choose whether to run of not).
The other is made up of guild members, chosen from the other guild members. However the individual guilds want to choose is their own buisiness.
Here bills, truces, issues and other stuff like that are created and debated.
\"Middle Layer\":This \"Middle Layer\" is made up of both guild members and voted-in citizens, one per guild/city. In this layer, bills, truces, etc are checked to to make sure everything jives with everybody else, bills are turned into laws, issues addressed, truces made official, etc.
\"Upper Layer\":This grease for PS\'s mechanics. Apart from being figure heads for the goverment, they make sure everything goes smoothly within goverments, and have the power to officially declare war. I figure that this \"Upper Layer\" will be made up of only a few members (probably atleast ten though). Perhaps they each are responsible for certain regions in PS\'s world, and each city within that region. They create trade-routes, manage their economy, have the final say in important manners (addressing monopolys and such), etc. These members can induct other people into the \"Upper Layer\" if they feel it is fit, whether the member wants them as an advisor, companion, or whatever.
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That was just an idea for the core workings of a counsil, and it was very rough and certainly doesn\'t cover evrything that would be needed to run a world, but it\'ll do for now

Just my 2 cents.
C&C welcome!