In general, Grimmfolk have a rather loose relationship with authority. They respect those who know more than others, especially when it comes to magical secrets or how to survive in the Wold. The few authority figures in their lives have generally earned that authority in some form or fashion, as the people there are taught at a very early age the dangers of pretending to know what you don’t or inflating what you’re capable of. Those in roles of authority simply don’t last very long if they can’t do the job well, getting replaced, killed, or trained up to a satisfactory level reasonably quickly.
This applies to the rules and laws of the Grimmwold, as well. What laws exist in the Wold are almost always there for very good reasons, and those reasons are clearly explained to anyone who wants to learn about them. When the reasons no longer hold weight, either because a situation has changed or the threat that required a law be put in place has been removed, then the laws are promptly changed in response.
Where Grimmfolk tend run into trouble is in dealing with other nations’ ideas of authority and the rule of law. Grimmfolk out on Wanderjahr beyond the Wold are warned to be very respectful of people in positions of authority, no matter how silly they might be acting; other nations don’t tend to sympathize with Grimmwold’s attitude of “but why is that law there, and if it doesn’t make sense then what’s wrong with breaking it?”
The Grimmwold’s governmental system is a heavily decentralized magocracy, with mages being heavily favored for all civilian leadership roles. Individual Wealds within the Grimmwold self-organize into loose regional alliances called Wodes, which tend to be “ruled” by consensus rather than any single individual, and the nation as a whole is ruled by the Grimm Council, a body with remarkably limited enforcement or taxation powers outside of the Hartzwold Province where its seat of power lies. The nation has only survived with this loose organizational structure due to the inherent dangers of the Wold making invasion from outside a risky proposition and the Grimmfolk’s natural disinclination to cause problems for one another. In general, any Weald or Wode that has a problem with a neighboring community will call in a third party (sometimes even the Grimm Council itself) to arbitrate the dispute, rather than letting things spiral into a situation that would be dangerous for either community.
The highest authority in the Grimmwold is the Grimm Council, a body of thirty-six of the best and wisest mages in the Wold. The Council was also known as the Six-In-Six in some old texts, and it’s thought that there was once (and perhaps still is) some sort of mystical reason for why that particular number has remained the same for at least the past millennium. The Council meets in a grand and ancient stone structure within the Hartzwold known as Ghostlily Hall; the Hall’s location shifts, moving to various nooks and crannies of the Hartzwold via magic, and only Council-members, their most trusted assistants, and senior members of the Twilight Lodge are able to locate it reliably.
Each Councilor serves for a six-year term, with six of the Councilors leaving every year. Should a Councilor perish or be forced to leave the Council for some reason, the Wold somehow knows to grant their remaining term to one of their aides, who takes up the mantle and benefits of the Councilor’s seat.
The Council has relatively little power, for a high governmental body. It controls access to the best supply of Darkwood on the Continent and almost all of the resources of the Hartzwold’s economy, but its power to enforce taxes on the rest of the Grimmwold is limited to what the Wahrsagers of each Weald are willing to part with. It can attempt to pass laws for the entirety of the Wold, but there again its power to enforce those laws is highly limited; mostly the Council’s attempts at national policy take the form of proclamations and advice, with Wodes and Wealds following them or not as they best see fit. Much of the cohesion of the Grimmwold as a nation comes from the tradition of following the Council’s advisement, but the Council tends to be very aware of its limited power and only makes proclamations that it knows will be followed.
Nobody knows exactly how Councilors are chosen — they seem to be selected by the Wold itself, or perhaps by Druathos or Alethos, though both of these Gods are silent on the subject. Mages chosen for the Council begin noticing phantasmal ghostlilies sprouting and blooming in their vicinity whenever they practice their magic; the effect seems to be entirely out of their control, and can become a problem should they be trying to cast something without attracting notice, but the lilies do make for an excellent proof of their membership on the Council. The effect fades away within a month or so after a mage leaves the Council.
Advancement to the Grimm Council is chaotic and random, and the general consensus is that it just tends to happen to people, who are clearly worthy of it in hindsight but wouldn’t have been anyone’s “obvious” choice. Should someone set their sights on joining the Council, the accepted route towards that goal is simply to excel at whatever kind of magic you specialize in and demonstrate good judgement in dealing with other people of the Wold, though even that doesn’t guarantee that whatever force makes the selection will pick you. It’s even possible for a neophite mage and be selected for the Grimm Council, though such instances are incredibly rare and usually a sign of extraordinary magical talent or power.
Every year, at the start of the Council’s session, when the newest members for the year have finally trickled in, the Council will elect a Woldspeaker to lead it. The position is nominally a figurehead and chairman role, as the only official powers of the Woldspeaker are to formally declare the decisions of the Council, to act as the chairman of the Council’s meetings, and to break ties in case of an even vote. In practice, though, the Woldspeaker is the face of the Council to the rest of the Wold, and their voice carries a significant amount of weight despite their lack of hard political power.
The Twilight Lodge are styled as the “hunters of secrets” in the Wold; they are the enforcers of the Grimm Council’s will and the organization that manages the Wodegann and the other intelligence sources that the Council depends upon to know what is happening throughout the Wold and the Continent at large. Nobody outside the Council is privy to who exactly is a member of the Lodge; they are careful to keep their membership separated into cells to minimize the damage should a particularly clever Wulverin or cultist cell manage to turn one of them.
Centered around the body of its titular ancient and bloodthirsty oaken Spirit, the Pact of the Sanguine Oak forms the leadership of what passes for the Grimmwold’s armed forces, as well as managing the recruitment and training of new Dustervolk. The Sanguine Pact, as it is also known, is a repository of all the Grimmwold’s vast knowledge of hunting and woods-lore, and its members are second only to the Darkwood Stalkers in their ability to navigate the Wold and hunt prey — a ranking that many believe is due entirely to the fact that they are all at least fifty years old and have been forced to slow down by the frailty of age, and not due to any lack of skill or cunning.
The Sanguine Pact is a sibling body to the Grimm Council, acting as military advisors during peacetime and leaders of the Wold’s armed forces during wartime, but it is mostly separate from the other political body of the Wold. It depends upon the Council for economic support of its training grounds and any military actions it undertakes, and is technically subordinate to the Council, but functionally it is usually left to manage itself except in the direst of circumstances.
Though the word means “Witch’s Crown” in the Common Tongue, the Hexenkrona is not one person but rather the body responsible for ensuring that Hexelgann uphold their oaths of defending the people of the Wold. The Hexenkrona is referred to by many as simply the “Witches’ Guild” of the Grimmwold, and indeed it acts very much like the Guilds of Sunderwyl or Companies of Aurendale, as it is made up of all of the Hexelgann from across the Wold and has as its core mission the task of ensuring that its members maintain a certain standard of ethical conduct and magical skill. It is the Hexenkrona that witnesses the oaths of new Hexelgann and the formation of new Covens, and it is the Hexenkrona that posts bounties on and sends hunting parties after Warlocks and particularly nasty Wulverin. Though it has no political power outside of managing its membership, the sheer size and magical might of the organization’s membership means that when the leaders of the Hexenkrona speak, all but the most reckless and foolish make sure to listen.
Like the Hexenkrona, the Eldest Pact is not technically a political body but rather a large and very influential organization, made up of the senior-most members of the True Gods’ clergy in the Grimmwold. The Pact’s mission as an organization is to work with all the Gruenvolk of the Wealds across the nation in order to ensure that the Wold is tended to properly and that no Wolderzorn are awoken. The Eldest Pact has been particularly active in the last century, ever since the disaster in the Kaufnwold unleashed Scaldmaw and turned the lush forest Province into its modern form of Dampfhelt; any serious threat to the Wold’s equilibrium will attract the Pact’s attention, and if they decide that action is necessary they don’t tend to wait for permission before they send a strike team of druids to intervene and make the problem go away.
In general, political advancement within the Grimmwold is limited to climbing the ladder within whatever faction(s) a person is a member of (i.e. the Shadow Lodge, Sanguine Pact, Hexenkrona, and Eldest Pact) or pursuing the leadership of a Weald or Wode. In general, the best and most reliable means of pursuing political power in the Wold is to learn divination magic in order to follow the path towards becoming a Wahrsager, and then pursue any other opportunities as they come up.
Every Weald is led by a Wahrsager, a mage skilled in divination magic. It’s thought by Grimmfolk that this is by far the safest arrangement, as seers and diviners are the ones most likely to be able to tell something is wrong or that something bad is coming, and the least likely to ignore the signs of such impending doom. Wahrsagers are expected to always be thinking ahead, preparing for the future and smoothly adapting to the present. Martial skill is a nice bonus, but the core abilities that Grimmfolk look for in the leaders of their communities are a head for strategy, a knack for effective improvisation, and a talent for managing people and getting the community to work together instead of against itself.
Someone showing that they have these skills and an interest in the position usually gets them added to the current Wahrsager’s staff and working with them on divination and planning for the future of the Weald. Eventually, if they prove themselves capable, they’re offered a position as leader of a smaller Weald, or, if they’re particularly skilled and a position is open, a spot leading one of the larger ones. Many Wahrsagers choose to retire when they know that there’s a younger, more energetic and equally capable person interested in the position; these retired Wahrsagers often act as advisors to their successors and continue to lend their talents as diviners to keep their communities safe.
Whenever a large group of Grimmfolk warriors and hunters band together for a task, they elect a Hauptman to act as squad leader or commander of the force for the duration of the mission. The position is entirely informal, but it’s considered a badge of honor to be the Hauptman for a successful hunt or strike, and those warriors who have led multiple such expeditions tend to get selected again and again. This is its own form of soft power, and most Wahrsagers will listen attentively should a reliable Hauptman have something to say about a course of action.