The Celestial Court

Above all mortal authority sit Ashley and Trystane, ruling from the Celestial Throne in Suncoast; their word is final on any matter they choose to address (Governance). The Celestial Court is where mortals come before that authority. It is not a working session of mortal governance; the Regent's Court exists for that. The Celestial Court is where the realm reports upward, petitions upward, and receives what only the gods can give: appointments to the Small Council, ratifications, removals, blessings, mandates, and judgment.

The distinction from the Regent's Court is absolute. When the gods enter the Regent's Court, they come as honored visitors to a mortal hall. When mortals enter the Celestial Court, the hall is the gods', and everything in it happens by their leave.

For who the Celestials are, see the Celestial Court page in Key Figures. This page is how their court works.

• At the Celestials' pleasure, and only then. No mortal convenes the Celestial Court by right. If the gods are occupied, court does not happen, and no mortal officer stands in for them. Precedent, February 23, 2026: the court assembled and waited, and the guard announced, "the Phoenix Queen is otherwise occupied. Court has been postponed until further notice." The Regent accepted the postponement without question.
• The Hand assumes the court in the gods' name. When court convenes, the Hand opens it on the Celestials' behalf. This is the Hand's office in its purest form: the voice of the gods holding their floor. Precedent, January 26, 2026: "I welcome you all to the Celestial Court. As Acting Hand I hereby assume this Court on behalf of our esteemed King and Queen, the Eternal Phoenix and the Eternal Tempest."

The full session format was announced from the floor by the Hand herself on March 23, 2026, and it is the standing order:

1. The Hand calls the court to session. "I call this Court in session. You may all be seated."
2. The format is declared, and etiquette invoked. "It is important that we keep to etiquette during this court."
3. The Regent speaks first: the State of the Realm. The Regent holds First Rights to speak (January 26: "Regent you have First Rights to speak"), and uses them to report the realm to the gods, his own decisions included, owned openly and without excuse. March 23: "I made the decision... to spare his life."
4. Direct requests from the Regent to the Celestial Court. What only the gods can grant is asked here: blessings for missions (January 26), and petitions such as the removal of a Small Council member (March 23: "we do need to request you remove the ArchMage from the seat of Grand Seer... We ask of your wisdom and guidance").
5. A word from the Guardians.
6. The floor opens for petitions. The scope set at the first recorded session, January 26: "you may petition them with realm business, religious concerns or council business." Small Council appointments in the gods' presence happen here, by the ceremony codified in Small Council Appointments: the Hand presents, the Celestials examine and confer, the Hand seats. Two seats were granted this way in the January 26 session alone.
7. The Celestials speak last. Before closing, the Hand turns to the thrones: "Would you like to say anything before we close the Court?"
8. Dismissal, and the gods depart first. "This session of the Celestial Court is at its end. Please stay in place until the Eternal Phoenix and Tempest King have departed."

• Small Council appointments and ratifications. The seats are the gods' to grant, and when they hold court, they grant them here. Ratification may also be spoken by a Celestial wherever they will it, as the Phoenix ratified the Marshal in the tavern on February 26, 2026, oath and all. The gods are not confined to their hall; mortals are not entitled to their presence outside it.
• Removals from the Small Council. The chain, stated by the former Hand herself (April 27, 2026): "the Small Council can vote out then get the Hand's approval to take it to the Celestial Court." The council petitions, the Hand carries it, the Celestial Court decides.
• The State of the Realm. The Regent reports his stewardship and owns his judgments before the gods. (March 23.)
• Blessings for missions and undertakings of the realm. (January 26.)
• Divine mandates and judgment of matters the gods reserve. Mortal courts judge mortal crimes; the gods' court judges what the gods claim. Precedent, February 9, 2026, the Phoenix on the Duke: "Once you have learned your Fate, if you survive it, you will show yourself to my court, and you will be Judged by the Tempest."
• Undertakings in the Celestial Court's name. The Hand may charge an officer of the realm to act on the Celestial Court's behalf, as formal negotiations with House Dawnstar were opened in its name. (April 13.)

• The Hand runs the floor, start to finish. Opening, format, speaking order, closing, dismissal. No mortal, the Regent included, takes any of it from her.
• The Regent's place is first among the mortals present, and no higher. First Rights to speak, then his requests, then he yields with the rest.
• Mortal problems are not brought to the gods for solving. The court is for what only the gods can do. The Regent's own standard: "The Realm will stand, and it will stand by mortal hands first." (March 23.)
• The gods' decrees are not questioned, in court or out. A decree from the Celestials, or from the Hand speaking as their voice, binds absolutely.
• No one leaves before the gods. (March 23.)
• Counsel is permitted; defiance is not. A mortal may plead, humbly, and then accept the answer: "YOUR will will be done." (May 21.)

• The Governance of the Rookery Isles: the Celestial Court above all mortal authority; the Hand as the Celestials' voice.
• The Celestial Court, Key Figures: who the gods are.
• Small Council Appointments: the in-court appointment ceremony.
• The Regent: the office that reports to this court.
• Roleplay Log: the sessions of January 26, February 9, February 23, February 26, March 23, April 13, April 27, and May 21, 2026, where every rule above was played.