Landsraad

The Landsraad is the body that represents all the Great Houses. It was founded long before the Butlerian Jihad and came into its own in the early days of the Corrino Empire, and it is ruled by its High Council and overseen by the Padishah Emperor. The Council meets regularly, and it is where Houses negotiate trade agreements, form alliances, or conduct kanly, the formal processes of vendetta. It is also supposed to keep the Imperial House from singling out any one House on its own. The High Council presides over the forms of kanly and over whether a House should be banished for breach of the Great Convention. Motions pass by vote, the Great Houses holding the lion's share of it, the Imperial House a powerful vote of its own and the Minor Houses a lesser one, and on some questions even the Emperor has to answer to the Council.