Kehapoole

Kehapoole is a term used in a fictional worldbuilding context to denote a traditional communal assembly that governs local affairs. In the imagined cultures where it appears, kehapoole assemblies convene at regular intervals to discuss needs, resolve disputes, and plan public works. The gathering emphasizes inclusive participation, with representatives from different clans, neighborhoods, or guilds speaking in turn and a rotating moderator guiding the proceedings.

Etymology and usage: The term is constructed from elements in fictive language families; there is no single canonical origin across all depictions, with some authors translating kehapoole roughly as "voices together" and others as "bridge of voices." In most depictions, the goal is consensus-based decision-making, though some stories include simple majority voting for less contentious issues.

Procedure: Sessions are public and open. A scribe records decisions in a ledger accessible to all. Typical deliberations cover resource allocation, maintenance, and conflict resolution. Some variants incorporate ritual elements, songs, or symbolic gestures to signal agreements and to mark the end of a session.

Cultural role and reception: Kehapoole serves as a narrative device to examine legitimacy of authority, civic memory, and social cohesion under pressure. It appears in novels, tabletop games, and studies of governance in speculative fiction. While widely depicted, it is a fictional construct and not drawn from a real-world tradition.