The Election at Luggard Dror

The election for president of Luggard Dror was set for the Turdas before Orctoberfest, 3 Frost Fall 1034 PC. The celebrations and commiserations of Orctoberfest begin the day after and run for a few days over the weekend.

The outgoing president. Turge stood down after fifteen years in office, considered ineffectual by some and an outright blocker by others. Rumours disagree on why: that he was blackmailed into it; that he was retiring to his corrupt fortune in Luggard Springs; that he had late-stage dementia; or that he had been dead for some time and was so ineffectual that nobody noticed.

The candidates

Two members of The Forum and one citizen stood:

• Shelur, an orcish councillor who attended the ball and once shared a ship with the party from Luggard Dror to Vistas Landing. Word on the streets, seas and taverns is that she is a reasonable member of the Forum, as corrupt as any of them but no more.
• Bafuto, an orcish councillor recently elevated, supposedly out of pity after his uncle died in a boating accident a year or so before. He ran on antitrust: big corporations should not monopolise so many national services, and Elemental Elevation Industries buying the hydroelectric plant proved they had too much power. Some said that meant he was shilling for The Carbonhill Company, though no one said so anywhere it mattered.
• Anstolas, a human citizen running on equality and warforged rights. Warforged cannot vote in Luggard Dror (most of them are soulless, except the few reborn through the Luxon in The Nascent Fields since the party restored it), but many humans and orcs have warforged friends and found the argument compelling. Many liked the idea but expected him to lose and backed someone else. The Dusk Sanctum seemed to support him, without a public endorsement.

Early word from sailors and merchants abroad put the race at about 45/45/10 between Shelur, Bafuto and Anstolas. A later pre-poll gave Shelur a clear majority, 58/38/4, with Anstolas barely registering.

How the vote works

Voting is not compulsory and turnout is usually poor, though the festival the next day brings more people into the city. Votes from the outer cities come in by lightning rail a day or two later, and people say they are disregarded because the city decides the president.

Ballots are cast in the four largest squares: on The Defence, in The Charcoal Ward, at the Train Yard in The Outskirts, and in Storetown near Ravenport. Delegates of the Forum take each voter into a room and ask whether they have voted already today; voters feel compelled not to lie, and their heads hurt afterwards. Anyone with insight can tell they are having friends cast on them. The votes are marked on paper and tallied on the Defence, carried there by corporate guards from each of the four factions, none of whom trusts the others to do it alone.

Fascinatia's interest. Fascinatia lacked experience of Luggard Dror's underbelly, which is probably the real power there anyway. She wanted to know which candidate would be easiest to manipulate and offer the best openings for her spy network, and sent Xosomasaux to find out.

In campaign 2

Fascinatia asked Xosomasaux which of the three candidates to back. By May 2023 (real date), two of the three candidates were dead, and Azguk Willix let Xosomasaux know he wanted the status quo maintained. Following a lead, the party found they had been set up to follow a man who escaped through a dimension door into a warehouse full of train materials.