11. About Soul Society

Council of 46

The Council of 46 is the main judicial and legislative body of Soul Society. The Council consists of forty Councilors, five Judges, and one Chancellor. Under no circumstances are members of the Gotei 13 allowed to serve in the Council. Its actions are completely secret - no one is allowed inside their Chamber apart from the Council Members themselves and any defendants who may be called to trial before the 46. The Chancellor presides over the court in these cases, with the Judges deciding the verdicts and the Councilors acting as jury.

The forty Councilors are elected democratically by popular vote, one from each of the forty closest districts of Rukongai - The first through tenth districts of each of the north, south, east, and west quarters. Any person, male or female, over the 'apparent age' of 20 may vote - this counts 1 year of age for each 1 year that person spent on Earth and each 10 years that person spent in Soul Society. Persons born in Soul Society are not permitted to vote until the age of 200. A Councilor's term lasts 10 years, with each district holding a general election during one of those ten years (All the 1st Districts vote one year, all the 2nd Districts vote the next year, and so on).

It should be noted that the Councilors do not have to be residents of the districts they are representing; in fact, it is rare for anyone from Rukongai to ever serve in the Council. Usually, the Councilors and Seireitei nobles select noble-class people to run unopposed or run against other nobles in these elections. With first-sons typically engrossed in the duties of running a noble family, the Council of 46 consists mainly of second- and third-sons. Women are permitted to serve in the Council, though it is typically considered more proper for a son to serve rather than a daughter.

The five Judges receive their positions in one of two ways. Most commonly, whenever a Judge position becomes available, the Councilors nominate and vote on one from their number for that seat. However, the Emperor can also appoint anyone he wants to an available Judge seat, should he so desire. A Judge's term is for life, though Councilors may impeach and remove Judges for crimes against Soul Society, and the Chancellor or Emperor may dismiss any Judge they choose at any time. As commoners are rare in the Council, they are completely unheard of as Judges. It's only within the past 50 years that Ushio Touseki of 1st District became the first non-noble to attain the rank of Judge. The other four current Judges are Noburo Tsukibana, Houren Hizawa, Urou Fujiwara, and Koutsu Menashima.

The Chancellor of the Council of 46 is the highest official in the government of Soul Society, considered almost as high in rank as the Emperor. On the rare occasion when a vacancy opens in the position of Chancellor, the five Judges choose one from among their number to ascend to that seat. Should the Judges be unable to select a Chancellor (it's been known for each of the five Judges to vote only for himself and not budge), the Emperor selects one of the five. The current Chancellor is Akazura Takagumi.

===========================================

Seireitei



For the FULL-SIZE map image, click here.

Seireitei is the largest city in and capital of Soul Society. The city is perfectly round, 50 km in diameter, 160 km in circumference, and about 2,000 sq. km in area.

===========================================


------------------------------------------------------------------------
<== 10. Hollow Compendium -=- 11. About Soul Society -=-