Pau sū Mor'os et

[Mor'os]

Since Parzan had left Akfuh village, and for that matter Sēkad province entirely, life had gone on without a hitch. Parzan, in what now appeared to be infinite foresight rather than gross incompetence, had by neglecting to perform any of the duties associated with his office of prefect completely prepared the village for the event of his absence. No one missed him. In fact, most were happy to see him gone, for while they were producing as much as they ever had no more of it was being thrown away on him and his estate. What few tasks he had done once every blue moon were handily filled by the respected Vethash-sam.

Things would have doubtlessly continued to operate as they always had had Parzan remained gone for all foreseeable time. But not long after Parzan left for the capital, agents moving in reverse arrived at the village, carrying with them all sorts of decrees and announcements from his Divinity himself. They had been as if not more alien than the strange folk who had left with Parzan. People falling out of the sky: why not? Agents of the imperial government spending any time and effort to attend to the backwater salt flats of Sēkad: surely a sign of the apocalypse or a bad joke. The imperial government had not payed any attention to any part the of the Empire that was more than 50 lhī from the Capital Districts. But they insisted that they were indeed the genuine article, displaying all sorts of badges of office and official looking documents. Really official looking documents, complete with a nifty new seal consisting of a dragon's head or within a circle gules with a border or which they were told was the new official seal of the new forward looking Empire. They went on to ramble about how his Divinity was leading the nation into a new age of glory and prosperity, and how their humble village was to be the subject of the many reforms that were sweeping the nation. Schools for the children, healthcare, sanitation, electricity. They promised it seemed everything short of salvation. The promises though were now taking some time to go from the form of words into actual physical reality, but it was occurring with at a steady if slow pace. It was a week after crews had arrived to start installing some sort of rudimentary telecommunications that a bureaucrat from the new Elections Bureau of the Ministery of Internal Affairs, Dazhī Senguch, arrived to introduce the inhabitants of Akfuh to pau, voting, a concept so odd that a word for it had not existed until the Mor'osvurgakkai had shamelessly stolen one from Ozian. It was not going as pleasantly as he had hoped.

"So, if I got this here correct," said a Manzhī who had recovered with stunning resiliance from the destruction of his bean crop as he inspected the concise information pamphlet that the Bureau had prepared as if it were some other wordly aberation, "You's sayin' we go and "vote" to choose our leaders?"

"Well, in a sense," replied Senguch. "Remember, you have three votes. One for your prefect, one for your governnor, and one for the Assembly of Petitioners-"

"And that's what again now?"

"That's the group which creates law to petition his Divinity with. You see," continued Senguch as he pointed out the relevant passage in the pamphlet in a fruitless effort to draw Manzhī's attention to it. "You go and vote for the party which represents your ideology and then they get seats in the Assembly for their votes."

"Ah ha..." said Manzhī, still lost entirely. While Manzhī desperately pondered, a Vethash who was picking up on "voting" at a quicker pace questioned Senguch.

"So we "vote" for our here prefect and governo' by rankin' them in the o'de' we like and we vote for the Assembly by pickin' the pa'ty we like?"

"Yes, that's correct," replied Senguch, relieved to see that at least one person understood.

"How's this makin' any dang sense to you Vethash?" moaned a frustrated Manzhī.

Well, at least we've got till April... thought Senguch as he resigned himself to untold hours of drudgery.

OOC: Now that it is time for Mor'os's first elections, any curious countries are more than welcome to send observers and such to monitor the elections, or to perhaps try and set up or support a particular party (Mor'osi Communist Party anyone?). Don't be afraid to get involved, make things interesting.

[Mor'os]

Time passed, and gradually the word that Senguch had brought to the still befuddled residents of Akfuh Village was spread across the entire Empire to every subject over the age of 18. As the populace came to understand and accept, even delight in their new situation as they realized its implications, a flurry of campaigning began.

By far the best organized party and most popular was the Shinchi party, representing the policies of none other than the Emperor himself. Having been the ones who formulated this new system of governance and implemented it, they by far grasped best the implications of what was happening. They of course had known what would be happening before any of the opposition could form, and with such a figure at as the Son of Heaven at the helm the party and its candidates for Prefect and Governor in various municipalities and provinces respectively enjoyed what appeared to be an almost obscenely unfair advantage over any opposition. But with such popularity, who was going to object?

Opposition did exist. Most virulent and second best organized were the resentful former Ar, running for office under their party of the same name. The organization though would do them little good, being almost universally resented as they were. Other parties existed that were not resented as the Ar were, but the Shinchi, in all its sheer presence, threatened to overshadow such parties as the Women's Party or the Democratic Party. Exceptions were the Farmer's Party, appealing to the long ignored men and women of an agricultural inclination of the border provinces, and the Free Wa Party, virtually unchallenged on the subjugated Wa that it represented. Any besides, the threshold for election was very generous, a mere thousandth of the vote, so any party which could do well enough to appear on the ballot stood a very good chance of acquiring at least one seat, though one seat was not much compared to the 999 others in the Assembly of Petitioners.

When the election day finally rolled around, the people came out in droves to vote. Part of it was the thrill of the very first vote in the history of Mor'os. Quite a bit of it was also the fact that few of them wanted to go against their beloved Emperor's wish that they vote and take part in choosing their petitioners. Regardless of what motivated the people to turnout and vote, by the end of it the Shinchi Party as expected performed exceptionally well, earning itself 702 seats and ensuring itself a majority in the Assembly of Petitioners. The Free Wa Party took 46 seats, the Ar 61, the Farmer's 121, the Women's Party 2, the Democrats 9, the Communists 25, the Shan National 11, the Green Party 1, the Fishermen's Party 22. With the Shinchi party firmly in control, Lelpak Chasmor's election as Prime Minister was no surprise, and with Chasmor as Prime Minister his appointment of Delmar Shausil as Imperial Inspector was predetermined conclusion.