Upon the death of a family Patriarch, one of the roles of a Speaker was choosing a successor Patriarch along with the various family Patriels.
While a Patriarch was tasked to lead the family from the Homestead and therefore often worked on internal matters, the Speaker was the main representative of the family to others, residing in the Assembly Cupola in the capital city of Csaplar on the planet Csilla. Therefore, a Speaker needed to build up a wide network of good contacts to other families. Often a Speaker delegated minor tasks in the Syndicure to other Syndics of their family.
Some families, such as the Mitth, had a secret rank known as Syndic Prime intermediate in level between Speaker and the other Syndics. When Syndic Primes were used, they were considered the head Syndic of that family.
Non-ruling families also had Speakers, but they were not a part of the Syndicure. Xodlak'brov'omtivti (Lakbrovom) was the Speaker of the Xodlak family, one of the forty Great Families.