The Council of Counts was a major part of the government of the planet Barrayar, serving as its upper house: it was composed of the 60 District Counts, who were themselves members of the Barrayaran Vor warrior-aristocratic class. The Council was also traditionally all-male, never officially having had a woman serve as a voting member (except for one time during the Time of Isolation when a woman was legally declared a man to enable her to serve as a count; there was later a "bizarre suit" regarding her marriage).