Barony of the Bees government
Essentially, the Barony of the Bees is run by a benevolent dictator.
Structure
The Baroness commands the military, pays them, and equips them. The Baroness can and does mediate disuptes between her subjects and acts as the judicial arbiter for serious crimes, but like most of her predecessors, the current is quite laissez-faire and does not interfere in the day-to-day life of her citizens much.
An autocratic Baron or Baroness legally owns all the food crop land and therefore all the food. The Baron or Baroness taxes 20% of all non-food stuff items right off the top, and then will sell food to the locals for more trade goods.
The Bee Baron will typically use his excess food and/or coins to buy up much of the beeswax and almost all of the reagents, so the Baron can dictate who the region's trading partners are and what the prices are.
History
In theory, the Baron or Baroness of the Bees is a hereditary title that passes on to children, the first born (regardless of sex).
In practice, the Baron or Baroness seems to suffer a lot of mysterious accidents and illnesses or they get ousted by surprise coups resulting in an unrelated Baron or Baroness taking charge. Currently a Baroness is in charge.
But most of the new rulers have not rocked the boat, not changing laws or norms to any major degree.
Demography and Population
Military
The Barony of the Bees relies heavily on elite mercenaries, aka adventurers and has roughly 200 elite warriors of this ilk on retainers and about 100 spell casters.
The realm maintains 800 conventional men at arms and has a voluntary citizen militia conisting of about 2000 members.
It is rumored that the Baroness can call on emergency aid from the Fair Folk in the event of a serious attack.
Religion
The Barony of the Bees does not restrict religious practices of their citizens or visitors but the character of the realm as a whole is mostly areligious.
Agriculture & Industry
There are relatively few acres of arable land for cereal crops or traditional food crops but these fields are very productive. Wheat, potatoes, rye, and barley are commonly grown for domestic consumption.
The region is famous for it's bees, so honey and beeswax is collected for export. There are also a few vineyards.
Available timberland is adequate for domestic needs, but this is carefully regulated. They don't want to over harvest trees in a way that impedes the bees. Likewise reagents are harvested with extreme care.
The region has few if any mineral resources.
Type
Geopolitical, State
Demonym
Bee Keepers
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Currency
Major Exports
honey, mead, beeswax, reagents
Major Imports
metal goods, luxury goods, textiles
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
Comments