City titles: The Prince

The Prince is the final authority on all matters within a given city. He makes the laws, he arbitrates between factions, he passes judgement. At least, ideally he would. The authority of the Prince stretches only as far as he manages to maintain his supremacy. A weak Prince is so only in name, whereas a strong one may rule as a dictator might, doing whatever he pleases without reprisal. Yet even the strongest Prince must be wary of the people he rules over, for any Prince who does as he wishes without considering his subjects is likely to foster grudges. Grudges which one night might come back to haunt him.

In Amsterdam, individual Prince's have ruled for many decades, or even centuries, in stark contrast to many cities, where the position can shift many times in even short periods of time, yet as always, the position here too is a precarious one, and any Prince here must consider not only the motions of his own subjects, but the machinations of the elders and prince's of nearby cities aswell.