Cacique Democracy

Each Gode could be said to be an independent land under its own Great Chief, each of the representatives present was governed by a series of rules that were documented, these were rules that had been passed from generation to generation and had maintained the peace and balance of power on the island for more than 800 years since the first settlers had arrived on the island.

More than anything it was about the social positions and commitments of each of the different social strata that existed in the society on the island of Frozland, 800 years ago the ancestors of the inhabitants of Frozland had left the north of the central continent, since the Norge Kingdom had expanded under the power that the social change of a Feudal order had brought and the freemen had been pressured and assimilated, with it the settlers of Frozland has been decided in the past to flee and remain free man without being the possession of a Jarl or a King.

Even so, the power of the Godes and their heads had grown during these more than 800 years of history and throughout the generations, the families that were supposed to be only representatives of the freemen had been enriched and gained great prestige in their territories, with this making the difference of classes and power struggles has arisen again.

It could be said that the idea had originally been applied in a good way, establishing a council in each region and then resolving disputes throughout the island with the general council or Alpingi as they called it.

but after all the population had grown and it could be said that 'one mountain can not accommodate 2 tigers' much less 10 of them on a single hill of scarce resources such as Frozland.

after 800 years of relative inner peace, the power that the families showed was enough to be able to govern the island and go in search of even greater ambitions, the question of everything was that without unifying the island under the same command, the power that could gather for incursions abroad was limited.

an example of this was Ulfthein Drekkison, even when he had 220 Practitioners, he had to maintain at least 60 of them as defenders of his fortress and citadel, not only that but that of another 80 of them were those placed in the towns around the city of Drekkison, in addition to this there were at least 50 other people who were engaged in sailing in the sea as merchant captains of their ships and with 20 more practitioners as their personal guard was left with something of 30 men to be able to mobilize immediately in question. that some unexpected conflict happened.

Even though he had warriors who were not Practitioners with almost 1,800, they also had their own tasks and duties to attend and he only had 300 men that he could mobilize at any time, under his shelter he had about 30,000 people counting the small villages around the city, with about 9,000 men aged between 15 and 40 years who were fit for combat, but mobilize that number of people was impossible.

the biggest question was that in Frozland there was no right over other men, although these had an obligation to the Gode, this was more than anything in question of interests to maintain a stable life under the protection of this, the power of a Gode was limited to what his influence could do, to be able to mobilize the population to a state of total war would be only in case of extreme danger to their life, not because of a struggle of interests between the leaders of the island.

thus the Godes could not have an open war between them, since being a war for the dominion of the island, it would not benefit the free people to have someone above the head of all, for the moment the Godes reserved for themselves strategically move their influences and undermine that of their adversaries, at most the occasional skirmish between the merchant groups of the different Godes in the High Seas.

but to be able to sail in the High Seas, it was necessary to have trained Men, ships, navigators, contacts abroad and most important of all, a Scroll permit!

without a permit issued by the Norge Kingdom the other kingdoms of the central continent did not let the ships disembark in their ports, much less replenish necessities and food, with it the only way left to them was to plunder the villages near the sea, and therefore those who did not have a real permit were treated as pirates or as they were called at this time Vikings!

while those with permits had the benefit of being able to supply their food, in addition to being able to access ports to sell their products and buy, not only that but most important of all is that they could access the Middle Sea and obtain better prices for their local products that were scarce in the most distant places.

with only 220 permits issued today, each Gode had the right to own 5 of them and the remaining 20 were auctioned by the Alpingi council, these were renewed every 10 years and had to pay 3,000 gold coins for each of them, with it giving a total payment to the Norman Kingdom of 640,000 gold coins for these navigation permits.

Even though it did not sound like a lot of money, for some Godes who did not have a prolific farmland, the ability to even afford 1 of these Scrolls was difficult, even more to deal with 5 of them, so in the end they ended up selling them to change of favors with the other Godes, so that the 10 great families had in their hands more than 60% of transit permits in the central continent.

the distributions of these permits would be divided in their majority between these 10 families, which had more and more rough frictions.

Sturlengar, Aevagrigar, Linvagar, Haukdagar, Odavaergar, Asbinirgar, Svillengar, Vatnisfiggar, Drakkison, Arnesgar.

Sturlenson were the ones that could be said to have the greatest power in the whole island with the most present influence in the northwestern areas and with different mines that provided primary materials which were scarce on the island, even more so since the family was known for being cunning as foxes when coaxing their political enemies, proof of this was that they had managed to isolate Ulfthein Drekkison from the other Godes present in the hall.

Not only that, but they had taken advantage of several strategies to seize the lands of their adversaries and strengthen their economy, it could be said that they had at least 30% of the economy of the island in their hands, in addition, they had about 38 permits of transit to trade by sea.

It could even be said that they were the maximum players to win in the dispute for power, the fact that they had linked so closely in the economy of the island made them untouchable unless they wanted to damage the pockets of the whole island.

The worst thing about this family was the fact that the person in charge of all those present presiding as president of Alpingi was the current head of the family!

Snoith Sturlengar!

Snoith Sturlengar 'The sagacious' known for being a lawyer, great poet, and merchant, but apart from that a great politician and conqueror of women, had more than one story of having stolen one night from the wives of different men.

with an opaque blond hair, a pair of blue eyes, an average height of 178cm and a thin complexion, it was not seen that he was someone to fear, but his enemies knew that it was better to face a bear bare hand than this man!

with a smile on his face a glass in his hand and a dagger in the other, it was the best way to describe Snoith Sturlengar, the worst of all was that he knew how to offer benefits to his rivals by letting them lower their guard and thus giving the possibility to obtain more benefits from them, his enemies did not even know when they were calculated by this man.

'' As I said even when the price increased by one-tenth, the number of permits we will have will be greater! I do not think anyone would deny that it's an attractive offer, right? "

Snoith Sturlengar said in a serious tone but still a faint smile on his face and a cold look as if what he saw in front of him was just an interesting play.

Dannar Svillengar looked seriously at Snoith Sturlengar, Danna Svilengar this was a middle-aged man with brown hair, somewhat obese, with a prominent bald spot on the top of his head and a reverent and sacred aura, the Svillengar family was well known for being the most prolific families in religious themes, whether in the ancient gods or Holy Bright House Church.

Dannar Svinllengar said in a serious and perfunctory tone to Snoith Sturlengar who was at the head of everyone.

'' Even when you say it's a benefit, how are we supposed to distribute these permits? even though we are more than 40 Godes many do not have the resources to pay for them much less to establish a fleet with which to trade, you will not tell me that you will keep the part that others do not want right? "

to say this the atmosphere was even more tense, even though there were more than 40 people here, only 10 of them had the right to participate directly, Snoith Sturlengar smiled a little more pronounced and with a chuckle, he answered safely and quickly disabling the atmosphere of seriousness that was in place.

''of course not! 80 permits are too much for me! First of all, let's see how many are willing to take at least one permit! "

in saying this the Godes present looked at the main figures in the room, most of them nodded, after all, there were few who could survive without being in some faction, while the Sturlengar family had almost 11 Godes as minions, Drekkison only I had 2 close allies who were allies for generations.

Soon all of them raised their hands, distributing with it 40 of the 80 permits, although one could say that it was an equitable distribution among the Godes, it was not so between the factions.

A glimmer of tacit understanding could be seen in the eyes of Snoith Sturlengar and Dannar Svillengar, between the two they gathered almost 20 Godes under their influence, being the main factions in dispute and further separating the power gap between them and third competitors with this movement!

'' Well then who is willing to take a second permit to lift ... ''

Before Snoith Sturlengar could finish talking Ulfthein Drekkison looked at the leader of another family on the Island, he was a man over 2 meters tall with a fully bald head and a long beard divided into 2 braids, he had a sullen appearance and fierce face with combat wounds, he nodded slightly.

the man stood up with great power interrupting the words of Snoith Sturlengar, with disdain and commotion he spoke almost shouting.

'' I have a better plan than yours since we were born on this island we fought to live! either with nature with monsters or other men! since that is how we are going to live and die, then we will resolve the distribution by force, establish combat and allow the permissions to be the reward! "

Snoith Sturlengar's smile waned for a moment when he saw this man.

Brandur Asbinirgar!

the relationship between them could be said to be the most complicated of all since the Asbinirgar family were known warriors and not only that but they had enormous political prestige, even though they had under their influence 11 Godes, the prestige of the Asbinirgar family among these 11 Godes made his handling of them wobble.

'' We are in a place to discuss matters of interest not to fight like ... ''

thinking of saying savages and seeing the cold gaze of Brandur Asbinirgar and some other Godes who revered military power, Snoith Sturlengar had to swallow his words and continue with his speech in another direction.

'' I think it would be unfavorable for some that are decided by the strength of those present as permissions will be distributed ... sigh, it would be best to submit a vote if it is better to take the distribution equally or in a violent way ' '

Snoith Sturlengar said in a compound way but emphasizing the word 'violent'.

before anyone raised his hand Brandur Asbinirgar added.

''violent? The power of a warrior must be honored! If not, what would be the difference between us and the vile thieves? Brute force is direct and sincere! we only have 2 hands and you extend it to help or to hit! no more honesty than that, so do not think about being able to have something that you can not defend, snort, do not blame me for taking it by force. "

The majority of the Godes nodded giving him the reason, the strong was revered and it was natural that this would occupy more resources than others, even so, they to see the powerful body of Brandur Asbinirgar and knew that if this was decided in a violent way, would receive a large part of these permits would be a few hands.

'' Well then those who are agreed to resolve the distribution by means of a combat competition that raises the hand, who does not, that refrains from raising the hand ''

Snoith Sturlengar's smile reappeared on his face and he watched with a curious look, how was he going to continue the play that he had in front of him?

Most of the Godes were hesitant to raise their hands and the eyes were directed to the heads of the 10 Great Chief of the great families, none apart from Brandur Asbinirgar and Ulfthein Drekkison seemed convinced to raise their hands, only thing of other 5 Godes what could be said was his supporters had raised their hands, in that someone else added a few words in the place, this was a man of some 30 years of age and of cultured appearance, of slim complexion and still of a height greater than 180.

'' it seems to me that with the first 40 are already equally distributed the necessary permits if you do not even have the courage to compete for the remaining 40, how do you claim to be descendants of the worshipers of the old gods? we forgot ancient gods of our ancestors now you will tell me that we even forget their courage? "

Devos Linvagar even though the family had declined to be a mere ghost of what had once been after the Esturlengar had acquired their land, they remained one of the few families that had a bloodline even older than the colonization of the island!

it could be said that the reputation was still standing and it was what sustained this family of falling from the ranks of the 10 great families and that the 9 great families were renamed.

soon the prestige of Delvos Linvagar added to the physical power of Brandur Asbinirgar made the balance inclined towards resolving this in a violent way.

Snoith Sturlengar to see this contrary to what many thoughts laughed with pleasure and said with a tone of happiness.

'' Well since it will be through a competition, then in this way will be, everyone has at least a permit so we can take care of it for now and be busy, in the meeting within 2 years there will be a competition for the permits, to be fair will be the new generations who compete, all who are under 22 years can compete for the permits, so we will have time to have everything ready, 20 young people from each Gode will participate to obtain them ! with it we conclude the bi-annual meeting of the Alpingi ''

Snoith Sturlengar got up from the chair and nodded to the young man who was the one who proceeded to witness the agreement, the young assent and with a roll of parchment narrated the points and agreements that had arrived in the past days.

Thus, the meeting of the Alpingi was concluded and the different Godes would have something of exchange before retiring.

Gisse Haukdagar a young man of no more than 24 years of age remained in place and has been looking at everyone in silence during all the discussion that has happened before, even though he was the current head of one of the great families he had not participated in the whole altercation, he had limited himself to observe those present at length, His gaze fell on the powerful back of Ulfthein Drekkison, who turned without much of an expression on his face when he felt an unscrupulous look.

at the moment Ulfthein Drekkison did not have an expression on his face but Gisse Haukdaggar could see a flame of defiance and craziness in his eyes, Ulfthein Drekkison did not seem to try to hide his character front of this little Great Chief, only nodded without a change of face.

Gisse Haukdagar withdrew her gaze and nodded slightly with what Ulfthein Drekkison don't make a move and go out of the hall, Gisse Haukdaggar keeps silence and then shook his head and smiled slightly, nobody could hear what came out of his lips.

'' too much strength can become a weakness ... a powerful wolf will never be a dog ... ''

with it was the last Gode to retire only knowing what he was referring to when murmuring his impression of Ulfthein Drekkison, leaving the room alone for the moment with only the elder presiding as the Chief of the island's central precinct, Alpingi, those who took care of the enclosure were a group of elders who were dedicated to worship the ancient gods in secret and not only that but they also took care of the rites of the Holy Bright House Church.

PS:this is not a 'Slaughter for the slight grievance' novel so sorry because we will not see the heads of these chieftain being chopped in a nearly period or in a war just 1 or 2 days after knowing them, these all are a savvy man that has measure and if they want to go to war they will need to reunite troops, weapons, armor's, food, horses, money, intelligence, moral, allies and causes Bellis so if they are going to war it will need time, also good weather and being out of the harvest season.