#And this has-- along with a lot of other things-- made Arin's protectiveness over Jaey go through the roof for a long time

[soulsxng]

Just wrote a thing about it that's in the q now, but because I'm thinking about it I wanted to write a quick little thing about the hierarchy among the Irekoli-- Tarinx's species.

It's very much a meritocracy, first of all. Strength, and skill, and ability, and accomplishments are all things that are viewed very highly in most species that reside in the realm as a whole; not just the Irekoli. Still, most cities and kingdoms and such don't really have very strict governances...as long as nobody causes any big issues, then people are more or less allowed to do as they please.

The Irekoli are the same way, though they're generally viewed as having a more organized and/or involved system than the other species and the areas run by them. People are still mostly allowed to live how they like, but there's still a solid structure in place to implement major rules and such to keep day to day things running smoothly.

One way they do this, is by putting together a sort of delegation comprised of some of the realm's strongest, most capable, accomplished people (how is that determined? In the beginning it was probably different, but these days there's definitely a lot of rigging done by the powerful and influential to remain in their positions throughout their entire lifetime...or until someone else gets sick of their shit and takes them out.

At the top of the council is supposed to be a figure sort of like a ruler. This individual is supposed to be decided as the overall strongest Irekoli alive. The Irekoli are also, however, surprisingly very spiritual beings, as well. They worship the realm itself (or more-so, the body of the realm, considering the Pirodeti that was Irekol's heart died shortly after Arin was born) for various boons, as many other places and people worship the gods.

As such, a second individual is elected to rule alongside the first. This individual is recognized as the Irekoli that has been "chosen" by the realm, and has the closest bond to it.

Generally, the idea is that these two are supposed to marry and have kids, in hopes that a new, stronger generation can eventually come of their offspring. Something that...because Tarinx is ruling with his younger brother...ended up getting scrapped. Which has the delegation up a wall trying to get Jaey to get married to someone powerful and give birth to this so-called hopeful new generation. The same goes for Arin, but it's easier to raise someone to be strong, than it is to find someone that the realm favors. (joke's on them though because Arin actually has the next closest connection to the realm after Jaeyani)

Anyway, so it's all really just a cluster and Jaey and Arin both tend to spend a decent amount of time away from home, working on diplomatic stuff. Things run smoothly enough with them stopping back every week or two, so they're not too worried about the rest.