The Treaty of Kleos left open the question of how the newly-constituted Commonwealth was to govern itself, stipulating only that the Pulotian and the Septarchal interests be given equal standing. Almost immediately, an "interim" assembly came together, comprised of the Pulotian elders, various members of the now Five Houses (excluding, that is, the long-discredited House Al'Shaine and the independent House Zephyrus), and a number of their aides. This assembly ran the day-to-day affairs of the Commonwealth for over a year before formally establishing itself as the governing body in 245 SE. This now-official assembly called itself the Floating Congress, an allusion to the Zenith Chamber in which it met.

Having already restored the taxation system and other such bureaucratic matters during the interim period, the Congress in its first year of official existence passed a number of measures that would set the tone for the period to come:

• The Flight Core were placed under the direct command of the Congress, thus recognizing that force as the principal military arm of the Commonwealth and resolving in one stroke the twin questions of who would command the Core and who would fill the vacuum left in the Ebon Legion's wake.
• The Status Quo Cumque Act allayed popular fears that the new regime would attempt to undo the Straylight Reforms.
• A delegation from Gravitopolis were invited to sit as permanent advisory members. Although they had no actual authority, this delegation served to regularize¹ ties with the Hidden City for the first time in recorded history.

—Iohannes Edgardus Quobertius