A Congress is a deliberative assembly occasionally called in the Cloud civilization, when it is felt that a large element of that civilization needs to act in concert on one issue or another. Variants of it have evolved among every Cloud society save for the Taneh, and they are one of the only elements of Cloud civilization which carries a wide-reaching force of law. They are usually rare events, with most races holding one on average every twenty to fifty years. A few more tight-knit sections of the Cloud regularly schedule them as conventional legislatures, however.

The specific nature of a Congress varies by situation and species due to the adhocratic nature of Cloud society as a whole. Generally, a Congress can be called by any well-known public figure, such as a “clan” leader, ruler of a substantial colony, or anyone else who has name recognition and substantial force of personality. Requests for attendance, along with detailed reasons for calling the Congress, are sent out to any known colonies, ships or populations in a given region of space, and occasionally to all known subcultures of an entire species. (Multi-species Congresses are not unknown, but are rare even by the standards.)

The Congress begins when all the delegates expected to arrive have done so. Oftentimes, a culture will be unable or unwilling to send a representative directly; these will return their official stance on the issue in question and their vote on the matter, to be sealed until the Congress itself votes. The wait for responses and arrivals of delegates at a predetermined location can often take months, the expense and difficulty of establishing such meetings providing a strong pressure against calling them frivolously. It is considered customary not to discuss the question at hand until everyone is present or has responded; this gives the delegates a chance to engage in significant amounts of discussion on other matters informally, and can often resolve scores or hundreds of issues in addition to the one the Congress seeks to address.

When all are present, the Congress itself begins. Procedures vary by species and by host culture, but generally they take the form of a group debate. Advocates for the various positions on the issue at hand make their statements and arguments, after which the delegates discuss, debate and argue freely, at whatever length appears necessary. Some Congresses are over in hours, and some last months; the average is three to six weeks. By the time a final, formal vote on the issue is called, it is often a formality, meant to officially record a decision which the Congress had already reached. Congressional decisions are final, and carry full force of law in all of the societies which had delegates present.

• Intervention Congress of 2564: Held from June to August of 2564, this Congress was called by the human clan leader Ashmunikal to discuss the question of armed intervention against the Administration of Man by the human Cloud. A handful of representatives from other “nearby” species were also in attendance, mainly as observers. Ashmunikal initially opposed the idea of intervention, with her colleague, General Michael Kelly III the Second being in favor. The Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of Kelly’s position, leading to the Intervention of 2564 against Earth.