Dragon Age - Thedas

The Royal Palace is the ancestral residence of the royal Theirin family, and the seat of power in Ferelden. It is also where the Landsmeet is traditionally held. Ferelden's throne is within the Palace's Landsmeet chamber. Unlike other monarchies, power does not descend from our throne. Rather, it rises from the support of the freeholders. The king is, in essence, the most powerful of the teyrns. Although Denerim was originally the teyrnir of the king, it has since been reduced to an arling, as the king's domain is now all of Ferelden. But even the king's power must come from the banns. Nowhere is this more evident than during the Landsmeet, an annual council for which all the nobles of Ferelden gather, held for almost three thousand years except odd interruptions during Blights and invasions. The sight of a king asking for—and working to win—the support of "lesser" men is a source of constant wonder to foreign ambassadors.