On Dalaran: Politics and Culture

The following is a guide written by Augustin on the Moon Guard Forums dealing in the politics and culture of the Magocracy of Dalaran.

Hello Moon Guard. Given the recent lore developments involving Dalaran, and its rather unique status in comparison to the other human kingdoms, I figured a thread analyzing the government and culture of the Violet City might be appreciated. It's worth noting that a significant portion of this post is fanon. Please do not respond asking for citations for much of the information given here, as the source for most of this stuff is my imagination. The purpose of this thread is not an attempt by me to force my fanon down anybody's throat. If you find it interesting and informative, then this thread was for you. If you disagree with the interpretations of lore on which I hinged the development of my fanon, then that is certainly your right. In either scenario, I ask only that you leave any hostility or anger at the door should you choose to voice your opinions. Thank you.

A Quick Look at Dalaran's Founding
I'm mostly going to be avoiding stuff that can just be looked up on wowpedia, but the specifics surrounding Dalaran's founding are worth noting in a thread regarding the development of its government and culture. Like the rest of the human kingdoms, the city state of Dalaran was originally a part of the ancient Arathi Empire. Magi from all over the empire flocked to the city in attempt to escape the scrutiny and regulations they found themselves being forced under in Strom. As the empire collapsed, the mages rose to fill the power vacuum within the city, founding a ruling body of magocrats. This would set the foundation for Dalaran's system of government.

The Arrival of the Elves
The mages quickly learned that their reckless use of magic led to serious problems. The very fabric of reality around the nation began to alter, causing demons to pour into the city and the countryside, wreaking mass havoc. Fearing revolt or military action from Strom, the city's rulers reached out to Quel'thalas requesting assistance. Working together, the magocrats and the Conclave of Silvermoon established what came to be known as the Order of Tirisfal, a secretive group that worked to prevent further demonic incursions. Also, and more importantly for this topic, this marked the beginning of the Elven presence within Dalaran. It was during this time that the name "Kirin Tor" was dubbed for the combined ruling body of elven and human magocrats.

Government: The Council of Six
Regarding Dalaran's government, we know that ultimate power rests with the Council of Six, a collection of six of the city's best archmagi. We also know that this council has something of a "chief councilor," who is often referred to in lore as the "leader" of the Kirin Tor (the official title for this position is Grand Magus). Examples of this Grand Magus include Antonidas, Rhonin and Jaina. This is pretty much the extent of the knowledge we get from canon sources and it leaves more than a few questions unanswered.

The Council of Six is an oligarchy, a monarch split across six people so to speak. Ultimate power resides with them, but rather than a single will calling the shots, each councilor votes for a course of action or a particular decision. Majority rule determines what action is taken. The Grand Magus possesses the power to veto any decision reached by the councilors, but a unanimous vote from the other five can override the Grand Magus's veto.

Each councilor is voted into his position by the House of Magi, one of the two houses within Dalaran's parliamentary system (I will elaborate more on this later). Once a councilor has been elected, they hold their seat for life, though they may resign at any time. A councilor may also be impeached by a 2/3 vote from the House of Magi. When all six seats have been filled, the councilors meet and vote amongst themselves who will hold the seat of Grand Magus. If the Six reach a stalemate, in which every man present votes for himself, the vote is turned over to the House of Magi. During times of crisis and extraordinary circumstances, the Council of Six may invoke the Right of Appointment, which permits them to appoint someone to the Council to fill a vacant seat without a vote from the House of Magi. Invoking the Right of Appointment requires a unanimous vote across the Council, and they must be unanimous in their decision for who will fill the seat. Lady Jaina Proudmoore's appointment to the Council of Six is an example of the Right of Appointment being exercised. Recent days have seen an unprecedented expansion of the Grand Magus's power. Jaina Proudmoore's decision to imprison Archmage Aethas Sunreaver and oust the Blood Elves from Dalaran without regarding the rest of the Council or the House of Magi normally would be viewed as grounds for impeachment. However, Proudmoore appears to hold significant influence over the rest of the councilors as well as a large portion of the House of Magi. With the cooperation of her supporters, she has been able to silence what minimal dissent remained following the removal of the Sunreavers.

Government: The House of Magi
So, at this point a great many of you are likely wondering what this "House of Magi" that I keep going on about is and where I got the idea from. I envision that Dalaran has something of a parliamentary system that is divided between two houses: the House of Magi and the House of Commons. I got the idea for this because we repeatedly hear the Kirin Tor as a whole be referred to as the ruling class of Dalaran, yet we never see any members outside of the Council of Six exercising any variety of power. With Dalaran being a city-state, land doesn't factor into power nearly as much so as in a nation like Lordaeron. So, despite the Kirin Tor being the ruling class, this leaves only 6 members of it with any real power. The House of Magi is my fanon solution to this. By making Dalaran a more heavily democratic society, the concept of voting power makes the Kirin Tor more of a ruling class.

So who are the members of the House of Magi? The Kirin Tor has a title hierarchy of some variety, but it's incredibly convoluted and new titles are being invented all the time. For the purposes of this topic, the hierarchy can be viewed thusly: archmagi at the top, apprentices at the bottom, and everyone else is somewhere in between. All archmagi automatically have a seat in the House of Magi. There is then an election to fill the remaining seats (I have yet to decide on a number of seats, it's difficult without having any real concept of population size). Any fully-fledged member of the Kirin Tor may vote in this election, but to run they must receive a nomination from an archmage. Apprentices are excluded from both voting and running, as they have yet to be fully inducted into the Kirin Tor.

The House of Magi's primary responsibilities are to handle the more mundane concerns of governing, freeing the Council of Six to focus on larger issues. It also solely possesses the power to raise taxes, meaning the Council of Six is reliant on the House of Magi to raise funds. Finally, the House is responsible for enacting laws pertaining to magic and its regulation (this will be elaborated more on later).

Government: The House of Commons
The second house of Dalaran's parliament is the House of Commons. The idea for this was kind of a direct result of my idea for the House of Magi. Once democratic ideas have been integrated into the society, it stands to reason that the ruled would sooner or later demand representation in their government. The House of Commons is comprised of elected representatives of the commoners, citizens of Dalaran outside of the Kirin Tor. The House of Commons has little real power, it serves primarily as a way for the concerns of the common people to be heard by the House of Magi and the Council of Six. Whether either of these two parties ever act on the House of Commons demands is another matter entirely.

The Kirin Tor's abandonment of Dalaran's holdings outside of the city proper when it was moved to Northrend resulted in an uproar from the House of Commons, and they were informed that they could either move with the city or stay with the people they represented. The vast majority stayed with the city (for obvious reasons) but the House of Commons has not met since Dalaran's exodus.

Laws and Authority: Magical Regulation
I figured it would be worthwhile to talk briefly about magical regulation. First and foremost, we see from multiple lore sources that necromancy is illegal both in Dalaran and just about everywhere else (the Alliance seems to be willing to look the other way for death knights, but not anyone else). Not much has changed there. Fel magic was evidently also illegal for a long period of time just about everywhere, but that standard seems to have been relaxed over the past few years, though I maintain the belief that it is still illegal in Dalaran.

The way I explain this gradual shift in magical law is that prior to Dalaran's "neutrality," the Violet City possessed some degree of sovereignty in the other human nations. As it is really the fount of all magical knowledge across humanity, it makes sense that a subject that may have been very over-the-heads of the ruling classes of other nations would be entrusted to the Kirin Tor. The Kirin Tor would have special investigative units specifically for the task of rooting out practitioners of illegal magic outside of Dalaran's borders. Obviously this idea hands the Kirin Tor a heck of a lot of international power, but after centuries of establishing themselves as -the- source of magical knowledge amongst humans, it makes at least some degree of sense that the other nations would be willing to allow the Kirin Tor to enforce Dalarani law (pertaining to the regulation of magic only) within their borders, even if it was warily.

However, with Dalaran's exit from the Alliance, this privilege was revoked by the surviving human kingdoms, meaning these nations' respective monarchs were solely responsible for policing magic within their borders. Lacking proper education in the arcane to appreciate the ramifications of loosening magical regulation and wanting another weapon against the Horde, Varian legalized the practice of fel magic to an extent. It is explicitly forbidden to practice within the walls of Stormwind City, and only permissible to be used in the service of the crown. Essentially, if someone wants to use it to fight the Horde, no one's going to try and stop them, but they're still going to be hauled to the stockades if they start summoning demons in the streets.

Though Dalaran has returned to the Alliance, no one's been overly quick to forget the fact that the Kirin Tor abandoned them once already. Thus, the privilege of being permitted to police magic outside of Dalaran's borders has not been given back to the city-state by any nation.

Within Dalaran, being convicted of practicing illegal magic generally results in one of two outcomes: exile or execution. Which of the two sentences is given depends on a variety of factors, namely the extent to which the guilty party had been practicing forbidden magic and the political pull that individual has. As we see with Kel'thuzad, despite being proven guilty of heavily practicing necromancy he got away with only exile, likely due to the fact he was a member of the Council of Six.

Culture: Foreign Influence
Due to its role as the center of magical knowledge within the Alliance, Dalaran has always had a large foreign population that has effected its culture and politics. The most readily apparent of these foreign bodies is the massive Elven population, a direct result from Dalaran's early negotiations with Quel'thalas and the foundations of the Order of Tirisfal and the Kirin Tor. The impact of this influx of Elves spreads to nearly every facet of Dalarani society. We can see that Dalaran's architecture much more closely resembles that of Silvermoon than it does any of the human kingdoms. The vibrant and flamboyant colors the mages typically dress in also seems to be more in line with Elven practices than human. It's often expected of mages within the city to be fluent in both Thalassian and Common, as both languages are frequently spoken within the city's walls. The Elves have also influenced grooming, with meticulously trimmed facial hair and frequent bathing being the cultural norm.

Even just amongst the human population of Dalaran there is great disparity in nationality. It's not uncommon for humans from all over to come to Dalaran to study magic.

Of course, this large foreign population has a significant impact on Dalarani politics. These foreign-born mages often wind up in positions of power, either in the House of Magi or even on the Council of Six. This creates something of a conflict of interests where many of the city-state's leaders may be more concerned about furthering the agendas of their home country than acting strictly in the best interests of Dalaran.

On Nobility
Dalaran doesn't appear to have nobility in the traditional sense, as it is mages that make up the ruling class rather than specific families. However, it's likely that "old families" of mages that can trace their lineage back a considerable period or that have had particularly influential ancestors hold more influence in the city than your typical mage. Unlike traditional nobles, these "old families" don't necessarily have legal privileges (at least not any more so than any other magocrat), but their word does carry a significant amount of weight, and having long standing alliances and political ties makes it much easier for them to find themselves in seats of power in the House of Magi or on the Council of Six.

Foreign nobility is exceptionally common in the city-state, as it isn't at all unusual for nobles from other nations to send sons or daughters off to Dalaran to study. This is often done with the intent of expanding their family's influence into the city. Having noble blood tends to make it significantly easier to climb the social ladder in Dalaran, as having weight to your name often dictates the caliber of mage you can get to accept you as an apprentice. Having a more influential figure as a mentor is an advantage for obvious reasons.

As far as titles are concerned, noble titles seem to take precedence over one's rank as a mage when addressing someone. For example, an archmage who is also a Lordaeronian lord would typically be referred to as "Lord Xxx" rather than "Archmage Xxx."

Political marriages are just as common in Dalaran as everywhere else and done for pretty much the exact same reason. Unlike most other human kingdoms, which view mixed breeding as muddying blood lines, marriage between elves and humans is fashionable and very popular in Dalaran, as many mages tend to covet the long life spans that result from having elven blood.

Conclusion
Well, that's it folks. If there any particular sections anyone wants me to touch on that I may have left out, let me know and I'll do my best to put my thoughts together on it. Feel free to post with your thoughts/opinions, I'm quite interested to see how my fanon and lore interpretations differ from that of others.