Kourend Council
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The Kourend Council was previously the ruling authority of the kingdom of Great Kourend. The Council was made up of four councillors, with one of the councillors holding the position of head councillor, rotating every year. Every four years, there was an election held for the people of Great Kourend to decide who the councillors should be.
While the five Houses of Great Kourend have their own leader who rules over each city, they must enforce and obey the laws set out by the Kourend Council, but can otherwise rule as they see fit.
Before being dismantled, the Council consisted of four members; the head councillor is Councillor Andrews, with the other three being Councillor Hughes, Unkar, and Orson.
History
The Council was formed during the 140th decade, after the death of King Kharedst IV. As his daughter, Rose, was too young to take the throne, the Council was formed to rule the kingdom until Rose came of age[1], in which the Council would disband once Rose took the throne.
However, the Council declared that Rose was unfit for rule, making the Council permanent[2], and Rose was locked away in the unlikely home[3] due to accusations that she had killed her father[4].
After a decade of rule, the Council has been accused of corruption, as the same four people have won every election since its formation. In addition, Councillor Hughes was found to have ties with the Disciples of Yama, a cult that follows the demon Yama, who resides deep below the Chasm of Fire. She was then arrested and her position as a councillor was removed.
Despite this, the Council continues to rule over Great Kourend. However, protesters lead by Martin Holt have begun to stage protests against the Council.
Dismantling
During the events of A Kingdom Divided, it is revealed that the Council was responsible for orchestrating Kharedst and Rose's deaths. The Council, who were advisors to Kharedst, noted that he began acting strangely when he brought an old flask from Lovakengj, muttering dark magic, and was no longer himself. Andrews conspired with an Arceuus mage to kill the king with poison and access to the Dark Altar, with the other three joining in, but only because they believed the King had to be killed; they were unaware of the mage or their links to the lizardmen until after the deed was done. While they intended to let Rose rule when she became of age, she learned of the conspiracy and wrote down details, but was caught and drugged by Xamphur to keep her in a state of torpor to prevent her from revealing the truth.
Councillor Hughes, who had since been disavowed by the Cult of Yama following her arrest by an adventurer, attempted to flee east to Kandarin and Misthalin, but was intercepted by the same adventurer who had investigated her. She was burned to death by the demon she summoned to kill them. Despite having fallen from the Council, the act further increased hatred for them.
While investigating the location of Rose, the adventurer discovered her torpor state along with Councillor Orson. The adventurer brought Commander Fullore over, who expressed grief and anger over serving murderers. Orson revealed the entire conspiracy, which caused the adventurer to bring the five heads of the houses together while Fullore grilled him over the potions. Andrews proceeded to have Martin arrested for starting the protests, which made the Council even more unpopular.
The five leaders were greatly shocked and angered at the revelation, and agreed that the Council had gone too far and needed to be dismantled, as their loyalties lay with the king and not with them. While Lady Vulcana Lovakengj was less hesitant because she had been good friends with Unkar, she quickly supported the idea when the adventurer discovered that Unkar had marked her for assassination and replacement. Around this time, Orson was also killed, either having been pushed off the tower or having committed suicide to atone for his guilt.
With the support of all five leaders, along with determining a new king, the five heads confronted Andrews and Unkar over the conspiracy. Unkar realised that they had been exposed and surrendered, but Andrews refused to and attempted to provoke the guards to kill him, but they simply knocked him out. The two are currently in prison and waiting to be tried for their crimes.