Council Chief

The Vardan Council Chief must be a Caravan Lead of a caravan in high standing with the Council, and must have served in that role for at least five years. They are also expected to have personally participated in the majority of Council meetings over the last three years, rather than sending a delegate.   Each Clan may only hold the Council Chief position once per decade, and former Chiefs may not circumvent this wait period by switching Clans. This ensures that no individual or Clan takes control of the Council, and allows for fair and frequent opportunities for all member Clans.

The Council Chief is selected annually by the Vardan Council. Potential candidates may not nominate themselves, but must be nominated by at least five Caravan Leads of different Clans. In cases where a Clan maintains multiple caravans, one of those nominations may come from a different Caravan Lead within the Clan, but never candidate themself.

The role of Council Chief holds more ceremony than power, but their role is nonetheless important. The Chief is responsible for setting the agenda for every meeting, including petitioned meetings outside of the standard schedule. They must also keep the conversation moving forward, interrupting circular arguments and reminding all participants during heated moments that the goal of the Council is to determine a solution that will benefit all Vardan, not merely the most powerful Clans.

To be selected as Chief is a great honor among Kin, for both the new Chief and their Clan. There are few other benefits to the position, aside from the prestige of the assignment, although the Chief's vote does count for two votes on all matters seeking some measure of majority to the agreement, rather than a simple minimum vote quantity.   The Chief's control over the Council's agenda does grant them an additional form of power in steering Vardan policy for the year they serve in office, since this also carries the ability to prioritize and deprioritize topics which have been brought forth for resolution. While it is expected that the Chief will consider the best interests of the Kin as a whole, some Chiefs have been known to bury any requests they do not wish to address, leaving them as matters for the next Chief to handle.

In cases where a Chief has proven themselves more interested in their own personal gain than the benefit of the Kin as a whole, the remaining Council members may vote to remove them and instead elect a new Chief. This is one item which cannot be removed from the agenda, although Chiefs have attempted to do so in the past, which only served to solidify the vote against them.