I got dressed in the usual clothing of the era- loose fitting pants and a shirt tied around the chest area. Further, I strapped a dagger on the left side of my waist and a hand axe on my right.
Since, I did not have a scabbard fit for my sword, I tied a spare piece of leather around the sword and I left my house for the council meeting. The meeting was to take place in the centre of the settlement in the council hall.
As I walked through the streets of the settlement towards my destination, I pondered about the unique administrative, political and economic structure of our settlement.
Firstly, about the council. The council as I told was a group of men- 9 men including the leader to be exact which governed the settlement. I as the leader of settlement was the head of the council.
On the contrary of what one would expect from the position of leadership- vast powers, the powers held by a leader was actually limited and I would even say, in some sense less than an ordinary council member.
And what powers did the council members have? Each member was allowed and expected to maintain 50 men- trained warrior under his command. These men totalling 400 for 8 council members excluding me formed the fighting force of the settlement. They functioned as the army by defending the territory, police by maintaining the law and order inside the settlement and patrolling squads against bandits.
As for the leader, he was not allowed to have any men directly under his command as it had been assumed that all the men were his own. This rule must have been created in the past to prevent assumption of too much power in hands of one man and also because territorial ambition was not a thing of this time. The position of leader and a councillor was considered more of a responsibility than a privilege.
But as we know, things do not always remain the same and ambitious people were bound to come to the forefront.
Now what did the leader and the council do? We were not a society where government officials were required in every small function. The people of the settlement were mostly independent to live their life as they wished and the council had very limited interference in their life.
The most important function of the leader in the settlement was to maintain law and order and dispense justice. Either the leader himself acted as the chief judge or any council member represented him.
Secondly, the council was expected to keep the people safe. This not only included the attacks like what they were facing but also from wild animals and when the general populace went to the town for trade. In fact, a day was fixed each moon when, a squad of around 20 men would travel with the people as they went for the trade.
Thirdly, the council also came up with plans of future developments of the settlement which basically was none- other than the canal from the lake which I had mentioned previously, a structure in the centre of the town to hold these council meetings and an outer protective wall around the settlement, we had nothing else.
And now about the economy? After all, even this least bit of administration and 'development' work incurred some expenses.
So, did we tax the populace of the settlement? No. It was not something you would call taxation.
The populace was 'expected' to pay an annual voluntary contribution. For all practical purposes, you can consider it to be compulsory.
Also, be it the councillors or the leader- we were not full time politician; Or the men serving in the arm- they were not full time soldiers.
We were also traders and farmers. For example, though my father did not venture into the forest to collect resources, he and now I had a large swathe of land under our command.
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Lost in my thought, I arrived at the centre of the settlement. My house was located at a close distance and hence it took me short few minutes to reach there.
The council hall where the meeting was supposed to be held was not exactly a hall- it was raised platform, around 6 feet in height- circular in shape. The diameter of the platform was around 20 metres.
Wooden poles had been used to support a thatched roof in the shape of pyramid covering the entire platform.
For it seemed like a tradition, the council meeting had been held on this platform; the council hall from old times.
When I reached near platform, the rest of the members of the council had already been waiting there for me.
A small crowd had gathered near around the platform- probably out of worry about the upcoming disaster from the eastern settlement or merely out of curiosity to see the drama unfold.
I took a deep breath and tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword as I walked toward the platform.
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