Camberian Council - Overview

Overview

The group first receives its formal name from Archbishop Jaffray of Carbury, who believes it appropriate that they be named after the Patron Saint of Deryni Magic, Saint Camber. In addition, one of the chairs in the Council chamber is known as Saint Camber's Siege, a name first suggested by Earl Jebediah d'Alcara. When the Council does not immediately fill the vacant seat of Dom Turstane following his death in 916, Jebediah (somewhat jokingly) suggests that the empty seat provides Saint Camber with a place to observe and guide their meetings. Not only does the empty chair retain its identity after that point, but the remaining members of the Council decide that they operate better with seven members instead of eight. The membership of the Council only very rarely exceeds seven members over the following two centuries.

The members of the Council elects two Coadjutors to direct and guide their meetings, but all significant decisions are made by a majority vote of the entire Council. The Council meets in a hidden chamber located in the Rhendall Mountains in northeastern Gwynedd, accessible only by means of a single Transfer Portal. Although the chamber is almost entirely subterranean, a massive dome of purple crystal allows limited natural light into the chamber. Beneath the main Council chambers is the keeill, a large, pillared room in which the Council performs their most powerful and complex arcane rituals. Both chambers were built by an ancient Deryni brotherhood known as the Airsid, from whom the Council draws much of their inspiration.