Many of the empires in the region are facing internal turmoil and conflict; yet most of the nations retain a strong central government tasked with maintaining order. The political governments varies from a the elites of a strict caste system controlling the power, merchant families guiding the nation, to theocratic empires ruled by divine law.
The Independent Delfic Cities
For example due to the
Delfic League War, the area formerly controlled by the
United Delfic States has fractured into many smaller states and city states. Yet these
Independent Delfic Cities maintain control over their populations in a manner similar to the old Delfic States; most of the cities use the
Delfian Marth caste system, where everyone is born into a marth and ones rights and responsibilities depend of the level of the marth. The old
Delfian caste system controls every aspect of the citizens lives from their treatment in the courts of the city, to how they elect their leaders. Most of the
Independent Delfic Cities govern themselves using a Senate composed of women elected from the the
Granic Marth caste, the highest caste. Their are only two ways to avoid the caste system.
Barsaminism with its high priestesses located in
Nali are responsible for administering the religion in the reason. They have their own hierarchy based on ones divine bloodline. So while the highest ranks of the priesthood are only available based on ones descendants, the religion accepts talented applicants to help administer the reigion and staff the numerous
Stellums, a cross between a temple, academy, and monastary. In practice, the religion functions as a separate caste in the society that allows females from mid to upper Marth castes to join the caste.
The strict caste system with the
Granic Marths in charge is one reason the cities fear the
Nos Delian uprising. When the uprising swept through
Delian, the insurrectionists executed or banished all the
Granic Marths]. Instead they instituted a system where every citizen got a say in electing their leader. The Nos Delians also removed the caste based justice system, where ones caste could determine what responsibilities and what punishments one received. These sweeping reforms caused the elites in the rest of the
Independent Delfic Cities to fear these new notions of justice could incite the lower castes of their cities.
The Yenari Empire
In contrast to the strict castes of the
Delfians, the
Yenari Empire political structure is not divided into strict castes. Instead the empire is ruled by two competing factions, the
Thrye of
Gran Saminism and the
Tern Gran Father. The
Gran Father is the official head of the empire. On the death of the father, the council in
Durbarrak nominates 3 candidates for
Gran Father, and then the council in
Yeni elects a gran father based on the three candidates. When a father is elected they take on the name Neerse followed by the number father they are. Neerse the 23rd is the current
Gran Father and was elected before the
Tern Bas revolt. He is an elderly 137 days old and people fear what will happen to the empire when he passes away. The current
Re Thrye council of
Durbarrak is known to be sympathetic to the
Tern Bas and the
Yeni elite fear that all the nominated candidates will be sympathetic to the
Tern Bas who the consider traitors.
The other faction the controls the power in the Empire are the
Thrye of
Gran Saminism. While not explicitly in charge of governing the empire, they are in charge of administering the divine law of the empire. This means they oversee the religious courts that are responsible for punishing the smallest of infraction, like stealing food, to ruling on the divine standing of the various mandates the
Gran Father enacts. While the
Gran Father technically has complete control over the empire, Fathers who have challenged the will of the Priestesses have found their edicts declared divinely unjust and some former Father were pressured to step down and a new sucession held. The Priestesses are also in charge of the religious schools the only way to get an education, if you can afford it.
The Delnari Coalition
The last major power in the region is the
The Delnari Coalition , based around the metropolis of
Delnari. While the city itself has dominated the trade on the lower
Strepslim since the signing of the
The Strepslim Accords over 1000 days ago, Delnari did not become a fully independent city until 4070 when they broke away from the
Vordenlan empire and established the
The Delnari Coalition . The coalition is led by the
Delnari Great Council, composed of the heads of the seven great merchant
Mars , extended families and the basic political sturtuce of the coalition. The council must approve by a majority of any action the coalition undertakes. Due to the family rivalries and the power sharing of the 7 families, Delnari Coalition is often slow to act constantly facing an internal power struggle. Yet this delicate balance of power has maintained itself for over 450 days. While the
Delnari Great Council oversees the whole coalition, many other smaller councils control specific aspects of the coalition. For example, the
Delnari Merchants Council controls the rules around trading and which families are in control of the guilds of the city. Each guild is granted a charter to produce and trade a specific type of good or service. Some goods and services are monopolies controlled by only one guild and family, while other goods are controlled by multiple guilds and families.
The laws in the coalition are controlled by
The Justice Council. The council is responsible for appointing magistrates who apply the
The Delnari Common Law Code to individual cases. The magistrates are supposed to be seen as impartial judges appointed in an impartial manner. However, due to the power to appoint magistrates
The Justice Council is the second most powerful council in the coalition below the
Great Council. The council is composed of 35 members serving 10 day terms and the
Great Council appoints 7 new members every other day. The actual magistrates who apply the code are organized in two groups,
The Delnari Common Court presides over all cases brought to the court, and the
Delnari Stell Court provides the final ruling in controversial or high profile cases.
The Other Minor Powers
In the region their are several other minor powers as well. There are three nations made up of the old
Vordenlan empire,
Vordenlan,
Voria, and
Vorshar. They are led by fabulously wealthy families that made wealth exploiting the mineral wealth of the mountains. While most of the population are hardy mountain folk, wealthy families oversee the land from extravagant fortified mountain palaces. On the southern coast are two small nations of
Dal-Aria and
Ria Mar. Del-Aria is culturally very similar to the
Yenari Empire, yet it maintains its independence and the
Gran Barsaminic Priestesses have less direct control over the nation. However, the current ruler has allied herself with the priestesses and prosucuted her rivals as not pious enough. This has caused an influx of people to move into quickly expanding cities of the
Den Mar fueling the tensions in the area. The nation of
Ria Mar is a very multicultural trading nation with many cultural influences. Its government is very decentralized with each state or city sending one member to the central council that is responsible for overseeing the nation. The final minor power in the region are the
Denites and @mar people. While they are not integrated into any one nation, they are nomadic boat people who inhabit the lake and
tidal marshes of the area. Most people consider them little more than lake pirates,
Marsh Rot. Some even claim that the
Denites destroy any ship that goes into the
Den Shar, an area the Denites consider sacred. The rebellion of the
Mar Alliance in the
Den Mar is supported by the
Denites - culture as they also heavily use that tidal marsh river delta.
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