@Milieu: The way I envisioned the public discussions to work was that it would move on to the next step, that is my judgement, when the owner (or defendant, I guess) had arrived to their own final decision. I then, would judge the final decision. If unaccepted, the discussion would begin anew or the unapproved thing would just be flat out changed. If accepted, then the discussion did well :p In other words, I'm ready to make my say whenever you tell me to do so. If you are though, I'd be most convenient if you edit it into the CS now, so I can more readily understand what you decided on, rather than trying to deduce it from all the discussion posts.

@Nemaisare: The power vacuum was created because the royalty of the D'Cerf worked as follows:
[list][*]The leadership was largely a hereditary monarchy, and was mostly patriarchal.[/*]
[*]Traditionally, the heir was the eldest son of the Lord before him (the heir's father). In the case where there was no son, the daughter was made Lord (formally titled Lady), but again, the daughter's heir would be the eldest son, if one was available.[/*]
[*]The High Priestess was the wife of the eldest son (that is the heir), and thus, it is a requirement that the heir marries before being allowed to rule. In the case of a Lady in rule, the High Priest was the Lady's husband. Here, the same rule applies.[/*]
[*]In the case where there was no offspring, then the next immediate family would be coronated as Lord/Lady (that would be a sister or brother of the standing Lord, or even the Mother and Father of the Lord). In the event that the Lord has no immediate family who could rule, the Priestess' immediate family was chosen. The succeeding High Priestess would be the wedded spouse of whoever was given Lordship. If the only available immediate family was unwed, then this would be the only case where the Lord would be unmarried, but the Lord would be forced to wed the first available suitor to assume the role of High Priestess.[/*][/list]

Unfortunately for the D'Cerf, the Lord and Lady (this is the name given to the ruling couple, regardless of who has what role) had no offspring and no available immediate family who could/wanted to rule. Thus, the hereditary monarchy was broken, and in turn, everyone attempted to get a claim on the open throne.