The Ruling Council was an assembly of officials charged with governing the New Mandalorian faction of the Mandalorian people.
The Council was comprised of several ministers, including a Minister of Finance and a Minister of the Interior, all of whom were presided over by the Prime Minister and Deputy Minister. When the Ruling Council convened, they did so at the Sundari Royal Palace, within the New Mandalorians' domed capital city of Sundari on the planet Mandalore.
By the start of the Clone Wars, a galaxy-spanning conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Ruling Council operated under the oversight of the current Prime Minister by the name of Almec. In addition, the Council and Almec were both subservient to Satine Kryze, self-styled duchess and appointed Mand'alor of the New Mandalorian people. Around 22 BBY, the Ruling Council met at the Sundari Royal Palace to discuss the matter of Mandalore's neutrality in the Clone Wars and the resultant economical difficulties that stance had incurred for the New Mandalorians, including severe food shortages and black market dealings to combat said shortages. However, the proceedings quickly broke down into heated arguments and petty squabbling as the assembled ministers had no firm ideas to deal with the situation at hand and instead stooped to pointing blame upon each other and their department of governance. The meeting devolved to such a state of chaos that Duchess Kryze was forced to dismiss the Council until such a time that tensions could defuse. Prime Minister Almec was later discovered to be orchestrating the black market activities on Mandalore in order to feed the impoverished New Mandalorians; he was subsequently imprisoned for his crimes, and the Minister of the Interior Armatan was chosen as his replacement for the position of Prime Minister.
Nearly two years later, the radical Death Watch faction enacted a coup against the New Mandalorian government. Duchess Kryze was deposed and Death Watch's leader, Pre Vizsla, ascended to the positions of Prime Minister and Mand'alor of the New Mandalorians. The Ruling Council was fragmented, with its members either forced to swear fealty to Vizsla or put to death upon their refusal. Soon after, Vizsla's leadership of both the New Mandalorians and Death Watch was usurped by the rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul. Vizsla was slain and Almec was reinstated as Prime Minister, to serve as a puppet ruler and public face for Maul, while the Sith's presence remained unknown to the New Mandalorian populous. At Darth Maul's direction, Almec set about selecting a new, loyal Ruling Council as he constructed his administration. When Maul was subjugated by his former master, Darth Sidious, Almec was left to rule the New Mandalorians as a pawn of Death Watch, though under his leadership, peace returned to the region.
The New Mandalorian Ruling Council first appeared in Star Wars canon in the fifth episode of the The Clone Wars television series third season, entitled "Corruption," and aired on October 8, 2010. The Ruling Council was later mentioned in Jason Fry's young reader novel, The Clone Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, and received a further allusion in the Clone Wars television series episode "Shades of Reason," one of several episodes the Shadow Conspiracy novel adapts to print.