Cormac Dubhghlas

Cormac Dubhghlas keeps a copy of the original rotation schedule in his own hand, transcribed from the founding council's minutes, in a strongbox in the Dubhghlas longhouse. He has produced it at every Ridgemoot for the last two years, and every time, it has changed nobody's vote.

Clan Dubhghlas holds the southern lowland glens — the largest share of Aethelrock's arable ground, and the closest thing the clan-world has to an agricultural core. Where the other clans mine, fish, or garrison thin high country, Dubhghlas feeds a disproportionate share of the planet, a fact Cormac raises in almost every Ridgemoot session whether it is relevant to the agenda or not. His argument is simple and, by his own account, has never once required updating: the clan that grows the food earned the rotation's respect before any of the others, and the rotation is the only thing on Aethelrock all five clans ever actually agreed to.

Known History

• Fourth-generation head of Clan Dubhghlas, taking the position from his father in 2811 UCSD.
• Chaired the last full renegotiation of the seat rotation in 2806 UCSD as his father's proxy, five years before the headship passed to him, and long before Rhiannon Ceridwen took the Ceridwen headship.
• Has formally objected to Ceridwen's unilateral first contact with Star Rangers survey traffic at every Ridgemoot since 2824 UCSD.
• Controls the largest voting bloc at the Ridgemoot by population, though not by unanimous clan sentiment — Dubhghlas's own younger tenant-holders are less committed to the old schedule than their head is.

Character Notes

Cormac is not, by his own telling, opposed to Aethelrock talking to the Solar System. He is opposed to any one clan deciding on the world's behalf who gets to do the talking, and has said so in language considerably less measured than his written objections suggest. He does not dislike Rhiannon personally — the two have negotiated grain shipments to the highland clans amicably for a decade — but he has told her directly that amicability and precedent are different things, and that he intends to keep treating them that way at the Ridgemoot table.

His strongest asset is patience: Dubhghlas's food surplus gives him leverage that does not decay the way a fold-relay station's novelty eventually will, and he knows it. He has told allies privately that he expects to win the rotation fight not by out-arguing Rhiannon but by simply still being at the table after the other clans' attention moves on to the next crisis.

See also: Aethelrock, Rhiannon Ceridwen, The Celtic Union of Planets.