Shout out to PortgasAce for inspiring this.
I'll just be addressing some important aspects of the story so far so it's easier to digest what's going on. The Three Questions I address are as follows:
1) Why did Hilda create the Shadow Council - What's its purpose?
2) What do Shadow Council levels mean? How does one rise?
3) Why is the Shadow Council so important to Thomas Vinzent - what's his plan?
Why did Hilda create the Shadow Council - What's its purpose?
To best understand this, it's best to understand how people rise up in representative democracies (which is what this fictional nation is based on). They are often ordinary individuals who run for parliament and represent their areas - so each district so to speak will elect a representative - these are known as members of Parliament. You usually must be part of a party if you want to stand a chance since people like to align themselves with consistent values and a party with values is more reliable than those from just individuals.
There is a lot of factors that play in the success in these elections, but experience and money are the two main reasons. People vote for those they see as more experienced and the those they hear about the most of (i.e. money for getting your name out during campaigning).
Thus the shadow council provides the people who enter it with the experience they require (expanded on later) and given they are surrounded by wealthy individuals, money doesn't become an issue. Essentially being trained and backed by the most influential people in the society means you have a huge edge over anyone else in the elections which is why being in the shadow council equates success in politics and in many cases business affairs.
So Hilda created it to control who enters the parties and who rises to the top. She allows a certain level of competition between the parties - meaning she can't rig elections to such an extent, but if you have four friends running for Prime Minister is doesn't matter who wins, they're all your allies, as oppose to random individuals climbing from the bottom who you have no connection or influence over. So party politics and differences of opinions do exist in the shadow council and these are manifested during the general elections when a prime minister is voted in - they're allowed to 'fight' it out in this context.
What do Shadow Council levels mean? How does one rise?
I just want to clarify quickly that the Shadow Council isn't something that ordinary people know about. For example, Leon never knew about it until his grandmother told him about it. Even when kids from the high school student council and the president enter it, they don't really know what it is exactly. The only reason George knew is because his father told him about it.
It's essentially a recruitment system. Being at the bottom means very little in terms of power, but it's huge since it means you're in the system and you can rise based on your merits. The way they rise up is through case studies. Either there is a real situation that the shadow council will make a decision on or a fabricated situation. Either way it is sent to the lower levels at the shadow council and they must problem solve and troubleshoot and present their ideas in groups (usually student council groups). The shadow council rarely considers these ideas but it's only done as a form of training and exposure to the kinds of things they need to be good at. You'd need to do many of these case studies and attend important meetings in order to even be considered for the next level.
Why is the Shadow Council so important to Thomas Vinzent - what's his plan?
When Hilda created the shadow council - you have to remember this was during a time when she was dominating politics like has never been seen before. At the end of her reign she had won three times in a row. This put her in a position that would allow her to pull the creation of the shadow council that would otherwise be impossible. However, the shadow council isn't homogeneous and it does have it's deep internal conflicts that go deeper than just political rivalries.
To understand this, some history, before the revolution around 90 years ago, the Royal Family handed out business and land to Nobles. When the revolution occurred the Royals were given no legislative power much like monarchies in Japan and United Kingdom. The Nobles however kept a lot of their influence, business and lands, but since the nation became democratic it made it easy for entrepreneurs to quickly surpass the Nobles that were lazy and though they would never lose their wealth and power.
However, there were Nobles that did change with the times and they still hold power to today. So there is a mix of entrepreneurs that rose after the revolution and Nobles that adapted currently in power. Thus in the shadow council both these types exist. The Nobles of course would rather have unquestioned power, especially after they saw what happened to their Noble friends who were humiliated. So whilst they did adapt to the changing times, they secretly prefer Absolute Monarchy.
Thomas Sinclair, the Crown Prince, understands this. But the Nobles won't do anything that might jeopardize their current power, meaning Thomas needs to prove to them that he is capable of going all the way and changing the system. The Nobles need someone to rally behind secretly and that will be Thomas - or rather Sinclair his little brother who will be in the shadow council but will only a puppet for Thomas.
But the people had the revolution right? They don't want the Royal Family clearly. How does Thomas think he can just re-instate the royal family and not get any repercussions - well we saw his violent nature in chapter 14 when he's not behind the cameras - so that may play a role in how he plans to keep power. Stay Tuned.
Thanks for reading,
Sorry I couldn't release a story chapter today - I will get back to it in no time God willing.