My story includes a small town council. When I say "town", forget houses, streets, lights, malls, all that. This is a culture reverted to a much simpler life. The town looks like this: They live underground because the surface is in the hands of megafauna and a climate that are not very hospitable to humans. This story takes place at the end of things. I have seven council members, two of whom don't have jobs. Any help? Resolved! Many thanks! Brenda - Master Miner, runs all mining and is head of the council Randel - Tunnel Maintenance & Repair (solved) Camille - Water and Irrigation Dawn - The grotto farm Andrew - Food stores Garrick - Keeper of the Peace (solved) Thomas - Animal Husbandry
You're looking for occupations for the remaining 2? How about: Tunnel maintenence and repair Head of Janitorial Services and Trash Removal Police Chief Mayor or somesuch, politician? Head Medico How do they transport water? Pipes, or do they carry buckets? Somebody could be in charge of plumbing and water distribution. My bad—just saw you already have Water & Irrigation.
I think it is likely that regardless of whether they are living underground and eating their own hair the dynamics of human interaction will suggest that the council will be subject to the same petty jealousies and political maneuvering that attend a discussion of road signs and streetlights.... also with only 7 some will have to do multiple jobs (head medic, head of dealing with the dead, defense against burrowing megafauna, police (human nature again), repair etc) that aside, and i can hardly stand the irony of asking you this, but whats the question ? ( a wise previous administrator once said 'When using the Setting Development sub-forum, remember to have specific questions in mind')
Some kind of religious leader? Accountant/treasurer/banker? Tailor/carpenter/other master craftsman? Guardsman/military leader?
Well when I think of a council (admittedly I think of student councils) I usually think of positions like: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. But for a self-sufficient town you will probably also need a peacekeeper and head of infrastructure. Given the list of occupations what jumps out to me that you are missing is a secretary (who could double as historian, head of education) and some type of police chief.
Is there a centralized basic education prior to apprenticeship? For example, does everyone get taught how to read, write, and math? In that case, there could be an education leader. Research and development (or recovery of old tech) would be important, too. General defense, for sure. While the mining leader would probably be the one concerned about cave-ins, I agree with @big soft moose that at least burrowing megafauna could be a concern. Entertainment? Keeping people's minds off the drudgery?
Ha ha The question is mostly made of I didn't sleep a wink last night because of horrid dreams kicking me in the dick. Mostly I'm looking for ideas I'm not thinking of, things I've not taken into account, and also some other points of view on the tiering of work. I've tried to pick core concerns for them since they are the "generals" of this little community, not the "captains" and certainly not the "sergeants", all of whom would be in charge of their own little slices of the labor pies. Don't let my use of military analogies fool you, there are no militaries in this story. Population density doesn't remotely support the idea. 20k-ish individual humans left across the globe. @Xoic 's mention of tunnel repair and maintenance makes good sense for Randel. He's Brenda's husband, so it's a good fit that she's the Master Miner and he's the one who takes care of what happens after the mining takes place, and given that they live here, not just work here, that would be the equivalent of civic maintenance in a town more like the ones we know.
You need some kind of secretary/"office" manager to keep everyone else organized. The rest sound specialized, so somebody needs to organize meetings, prioritize tasks, handle busy work, liaise between the other council members and citizenry. The rest of them will be running around with their heads up their asses most of the time, I would imagine.
additional to the 'police' function (even a couple of hundred people have potential to be assholes to each other) you also need some sort of lawgiver role to settle civil disputes (again in a group large enough to need a town there will be people plonking each others partners and selling short measures etc etc)