Amaranth (The State)

Amaranth, the political state:

• Is a Socialist Theocracy, with a planned economy, largely practicing a form of Collective ownership of the means of production, split by districts and houses. Military means are the exception and are publicly owned by the state.
• The Ascendant High Priest is elected by the Council of Forty-Nine (CFN) and has a number of executive powers
• The Council of Forty-Nine (10 from each church, minus whoever is Ascendant) is the ruling political body, deciding on economic planning, appointment of military leaders, laws and resolving the governance of districts
• Districts or Houses are constructed or appointed by the CFN. They are granted land, means and resources to perform certain actions or produce certain resources. Once set up, these collectives are largely autonomous with regards to their ownership of their means and the decisions regarding the internal distribution of them. They have strong constitutional protections against being deconstructed, even by the Council or Ascendant; outright treason or collapse are the only legitimate legal causes for such and action and it's a testament to the Council's support for this system that it hasn't happened in living memory for most species.
• Though many positions and titles are still nominally based upon feudal roles, more democratic principles tend to hold sway within collectives. District Councils are elected from within their residents. Houses tend to democratically elect their leaders, but are not mandated to. And the CFN members are elected by all the dedicated members of their individual churches, although only High Priests (those who have gone through all the dedication tiers to their god) are eligible to stand.

The Economy

As a planned economy, citizens are expected to produce goods or provide service according to the trade they're trained in, and are paid as part of their district or house's appointed assignment and quotas. In practice, as much half of a district's citizens are likely not to be performing the principle trade; and are instead either providing some logistic or hospitality service or are non-workers; the young, elderly, ill or disabled. Districts are mandated to distribute goods and pay regardless of such status, however, and rarely are districts allowed to grow to such a size that Governers could become detached from those they're elected to serve. Districts that do are usually split up. Some statutory mandates can be invoked by district councils should the balance drift too far in the direction of the later, but while Amaranth's economy currently thrives, those are rarely invoked. The influx of young people trained in the district's principle trade, as well as many of Valeria's cloisters dedicated to caring for the infirm help to keep the balance. Furthermore, with young apprentices typically having few dependents and fewer needs, districts usually offer free training to entice such prospects and help maintain the balance.
All citizens are provided with food and housing according to their vital needs, and they are expected to spend their pay in the markets to provide for any other needs - to cut down on intricate bureaucracy. As it stands, the Amaranth Reckoners Committee (ARC) already performs a vast number of checks and audits to ensure all citizens are sustained and paid by whichever organisation is responsible for them.
Members of the military live under a similar principle, where the military itself is responsible for providing for them, and recompensing them for their service (deliberately more lucratively than civilian jobs, for the most part). What's more, Houses and Districts receive a modest tribute when a member of theirs signs up for the military, as recompense for their lost production. (Leading to many Houses whose sole purpose is to raise and train new generations for military service in return for these tributes.)

What's the difference between a House and a District?

A District is formed around a certain geographical portion of the city, and run by an elected council of residents. These district councils are responsible for spending funds given to them by the CFN to house and feed their residents, as well as to train, organise, predict and meet production quotas within their boundaries. Many of these districts, accordingly, become organised around one particular trade, and there are over two dozen farming districts in and bordering the river. Joining a district is somewhat free and loose; individuals (or families) only have to demonstrate in principle that they (or one family member) has training in the primary trade of the district, and can only be refused if the district can prove it has no further accommodation to offer. Districts can allow those without training to join with a simple council majority (usually where the district is trying to attract couriers, builders, publicans etc.). People can leave a district with no restrictions (save that ARC ensures individuals do not receive district pay or supplies more than once a month).
With District councils formed of tradespeople, the economic mechanisms of Amaranth can be somewhat eldritch to the uninitiated, but Priests of Luna (ofter former or aspiring members of ARC) are available to the Governers to help right any sinking ships and explain constitutional mechanisms they can invoke. (In dire cases, these Priests will sometimes simply impose themselves on Council meetings.) In principle, districts failing to meet quotas can have their incoming supplies and pay reduced (though never their vital needs) and decreased supply or increased demand is expected to balance out the number of people producing in that district (which sometimes works, when the mobility of said tradespeople is high). Fortunately this is rarely invoked as punishment and is rather seen as incentive to meet reasonable quotas. ARC plans far ahead and districts that drop necessary quotas are sometimes given more supplies to attract new tradespeople, even where current quotas fail to be met. This is not to say ARC has never let a district shrink when demand is oversupplied or a trade is supplanted, but these changes are rarely sudden, definitely forewarned and never leave a family unable to simply continue living there. Indeed, in a city as large as Amaranth, a few 'ghost districts' exist; producing nothing and supporting a handful of aging families whose kids tend to drift away to better prospects until eventually the district council bids a new proposal to the city (usually if there's an influx of tradespeople looking to break off from their current district) or until the population drops below a minimum based on the district size and the city gains the right to recommission the district.    Houses are formed along the lines of old nobility charters, and usually bid to perform certain services or produce certain resources in exchange for land and currency. A few that don't bid for such city contracts either run entirely on past momentum or train soldiers for the military, gaining tribute whenever 'apprentices' graduate and join the military. Joining said houses can be a prestigious way to enter higher into the military hierarchy or at least join with some training and gear to your name.
Houses exist outside the bounds of Districts, and citizens can only be a member of one or the other. Unlike Districts, one has to apply to become a member of a House, and can be refused. Whilst a House charter usually restricts exactly what a House's governing body is, and must pass approval before formation from the CFN (who usually require full internal democracy at this point), many of the older houses have charters that are significantly more... oligarchical. Many of the oldest houses are military, named after a "noble" family, and are still controlled by people who bear this family name.
Houses tend to defy easy categorization, with some maintaining a population of only a few select tradespeople or family in a single location; whilst others are sprawling city-wide affairs with people who go between many hundreds of districts. 

Example Districts

Districts are usually named either for the trade they're principally engaged in or after some geographical feature of the area.

• Dozens of river valley farming districts, often named after the part of the river (East Amar Fork, Templeview Mouth, Cornfield Narrows) and occasionally after a Merfolk family (Sweetbrine Straits, Dredgewater Fields) where their large families can be reasonably said to make up a majority of the district's population..
• The Cobblers Quarter
• The Cobblers Other Quarter
• Crossbow Alley
• Bakers Island - (not really an island, but one of the few districts large enough to occupy, by itself, an area bordered solely by primary canals)
• The North Wall Collective - principally engaged in Masonry, but has lost a lot of that trade to a few more mobile Houses and nearly half its workers now engage in hunting outside the walls.
• Seaside Tiers - Largely a ship and boat yard. One of the few districts that's split evenly between land and water.
• Vortex Depths - A small, but deep district, far down the Dam, primarily concerned with harvesting residuum and water entities from the convergences down there and enchanting magical items.

Example Houses

Older Houses tend to have noble names preceeded by 'The House of-', even where the name has since lost all relation to its members, whilst newer houses tend to be plain about their houses's purpose.

• The House of Mictian - Tiefling Knights, specialising in using Infernal (or Purified) gifts on the battlefield, as well as fire amgic.
• Yoatzin's Phalanx - Despite the military name, engaged in scores of contracts to maintain, rebuild or reinforce the Amaranth's outer wall (along with half a dozen other House competitors; there's like a 1000 miles of wall, excluding the dam).
• The Mule's League - Regardless of the understated name, an enormous House engaged in the daily logistics of transporting heavy goods around a 150 mile wide city.
• House Vasara - As above, only for couriers, with much of their network relying heavily on Sendings and the like. Still controlled by the Vasara Eladrin family.
• The Market of All - Odd, for a House, in that it controls a District-like parcel of land and many of the city's most prominent suppliers call its hundreds of market lanes home. It's relationship with ARC and its job redistributing non-essential goods via the markets and essentially collecting pay as taxes means it's defied being replaced by a district. Where a district's quotas would be a bit murkier than the Market's quite clear charter, supposedly written shortly after the pseudo-rebellion that cemented this whole system in place.
• The Lamplighter's Guild
• The Timekeepers
• Literally three dozen Houses that consist solely of a training ground and barracks, and bear the name of someone long dead.

How did this all happen?

This system arose early in the 1000-year war with Malthracion.

After several decades of a classic Total War Economy, conditions inside the walls were as bad as out, and widespread unrest threatened to topple the city entirely. Noble Houses (precursors of the modern Houses, but with a predominantly martial focus) made plays to overthrow the secular political Council of the time (though history largely fails to record exactly what form the Council took roping various portions of the city into their influence and setting up some of the oldest district borders in Amaranth in the process. In endeavoring to secure better conditions for the districts under their care, some of the earliest self-governing districts were formed and enabled.

It has been pointed out time and again that the Houses largely only established these early collectives to prevent their martial leaders having to suddenly step into the business of organizing and governing a bunch of peasants, and as a prelude to taking control of the whole City, whereupon exactly how much control they had over a few districts would largely be redundant. Nonetheless, when the Churches stepped in to calm the feuds and unite the city once more, it was Luna who ensured the districts kept their autonomy and such practices were extended to the rest of the city. Religious scholars point to Luna's wisdom is ensuring that despite the existential threat of Malthracion, these steps ensured the people of Amaranth would always have something to call their own and fight for. More cynical historical scholars record that the situation was probably a lot more tenuous than that, and that rolling back ownership would likely have descended back into unrest.

Despite many teething issues over the initial decades, the system was eventually successful in improving production over the absolutely drained war economy. Though Amaranth was temporarily weakened for a dozen years, stories that border on legends still tell of brave commanders fighting, essentially, a guerrilla war to keep the city safe. It is perhaps fortunate happenstance that Malthracion was seemingly not without turmoil at the time either - whether from the same economic drain or some other cause, the livery of Malthracion Soldiers changed repeatedly over the same couple of decades, before finally settling on it's current "spiked" ornamentation and Red and Black colours.

Type

Geopolitical, Theocracy

Demonym

Amar

Leader

Ascendent High Priestess Amari Celeste

Head of State

Ascendent High Priestess Amari Celeste

Government System

Theocracy

Economic System

Command/Planned economy