Comparative Politics of Taijitu

[Myroria]

Taijitu is home to some of the most complex, mind-boggling, irrational political systems in existence. Explain them - how they work according to the law, how they work in reality, and their history - here.

The Union of the Great and Lesser Houses of Myroria

House and kin

Myroria has organized for hundreds of years according to Great Houses. Great Houses were once complex traditions surrounding Myrorian families and tribes, but today function mainly as political parties. A Great House is comprised of one or more Lesser Houses, or Houses for short. Often a Great House is formed when one Lesser House swears fealty to another, usually larger or more powerful, Lesser House. In this way Lesser Houses can pool their political power. If a Lesser House feels its needs are being neglected within the larger Great House structure, it can break its bonds of fealty and go it alone, or pledge itself to a new Great House.

Membership in a House is largely a matter of birth or marriage, but anyone, even foreigners, can be adopted by a House as a retainer. Through hard work and recognition, even a commoner can raise their prospects and even become a member of the House leadership. Historically, before the Exodus, dozens of Great Houses ruled Myroria. After the invasion of Pelagia and the establishment of the new Myrorian state, it was set in law that the three largest Great Houses would rule Myroria jointly through the Council of Great Houses.

The Empeurer

The Empeurer, or Empeuress, from the Pelagian word meaning emperor, is the monarch of Myroria. He/she is elected to serve the rest of his or her life on the throne. As long as a House holds a majority on the Council, the Empeurer's heir is usually chosen to succeed him or her once they die. However, if, while a monarch is alive, a new House takes the majority, their heir is usually passed over in favor of a member of the new majority Great House.

The Empeurer is ostensibly an absolute monarch only beholden to what the Constitution forbids him/her to do. In reality, a complex system of checks and balances forbids the monarch from exercising too much power. Traditionally, the monarch submits a plan for its legislative agenda for the year to the Council every January, and acts by decree - though these decrees are largely ceremonial. Every potential law is carefully worked out in the Council before the monarch can officially make it so.

In certain instances, as when the "national security" is threatened, the monarch is allowed more leeway in what he or she is allowed to decree into law, but even then most things must be reviewed by the Council before they may be passed.

The Illustrious Council

The Council of the Great Houses of Myroria is a pseudo-democratic legislature locked in a constant struggle for political supremacy with the Empeurer of Myroria. The Council is comprised of the three largest Great Houses of Myroria; generally each House appoints Councillors to represent it in the legislature. Usually Councillors are members of the dominant family in the Great House, but a handful of Great Houses, such as Great House Vrotrith, have traditionally elected their members.

The rights reserved to the Council aren't specified in law, but its power has in general increased over the years. One power the Council has that has been officially enshrined in law is the power of impeachment. The Council can, by a two-thirds majority vote, impeach the Empeurer and remove him from office. This process has only ever been used when the Empeurer has broken some law enshrined in the Constitution of Myroria, but theoretically the Council could impeach the monarch simply for maladministration. The most recent Empeurer to be impeached was Peté Tar-Ilium in 1969.

Any time a House breaks a bond of fealty or forms a new one, this must be registered with the Clerk of the Great Houses. Called "the most powerful person in Myroria" by some, the Clerk registers and keeps track of the often complex network of marriages, births, and vassalships that characterize the relationships between the Great and Lesser Houses. In this way the Clerk ensures that each Great House gets an appropriate number of seats on the Council. The Council is officially reapportioned every two years by the Clerk, who traditionally belongs to no Great House.

Great House Quarrovth
Coat of Arms of Great House Quarrovth
Lord of Great House Quarrovth: Fredrika Quarrovth Tar-Ilium, Empeuress of Myroria
Head of the Majority: Serjo Idril Quarrovth

Great House Quarrovth is the largest Great House on the council, holding 273 seats. Its members are mainly concentrated in County Ivorheart and Traval, in the rural areas of the country. Most members of Great House Quarrovth are veterans or children of veterans. It soared from a relatively minor Great House in the early 1890s to the kingship after the death of Nelvil II Moomintroth in 1930 - after the Great War, new veterans flocked to the Quarrovth banner due to its leadership - General Fendryn Quarrovth, a war hero who fought in the Great War and the Indigenous Wars in Resdaynia. He became the first Quarrovth Empeurer upon the death of Nelvil II in 1930.

Since the 1940s, the House has promoted mainly a centrist libertarian platform, advocating few restrictions on industry and high personal freedom. Historically there was a strong social conservative wing based in rural County Ivorheart, but this wing has greatly diminished over time.

Great House Vrotrith
Coat of Arms of Great House Vrotrith
Premier of Great House Vrotrith: Rothis Vrotrith
Head of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition: Serjo Lleram Vrotrith

Great House Vrotrith is the second-largest House on the Council, holding 109 seats. Its members mainly reside in County Novrith and in the cities scattered throughout Myroria. Most members of Great House Vrotrith are union workers, academics, and young college students. House Vrotrith is the only House on the Council to elect its representatives from its own members. It has been on the Council since the 1930s, when it replaced House Indiotrovth - never-confirmed rumors that the old aristocratic House had been infiltrated by foreign Dunedain agents greatly diminished Indiotrovth's standing among the people and its sworn Lesser Houses quickly fled from its banner.

Great House Vrotrith has always promoted a democratic socialist platform, and is fiercely anti-monarchy. Rothis Vrotrith has said on numerous occasions that if ever elected Empeurer, he would immediately dismantle the House system and replace it with a parliamentary democracy.

Great House Moomintroth
Coat of Arms of Great House Moomintroth
Lord of Great House Moomintroth: Duldrar "Papa" Moomintroth
Minority Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition: Deryn Moomintroth

Great House Moomintroth is the smallest and politically weakest House on the Council, a shell of the glory it once had throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. Its members are primarily old aristocrats scattered throughout the interior of County Novrith and County Ivorheart. It rode a wave of populist support for the monarchy throughout the intensely nationalistic days of the mid-19th century and was elected to the monarchy by a landslide, but a Pyrrhic victory and heavy losses during the Great War permanently crippled it politically, and it now spends most of its time waiting to be removed from the Council by some other upstart.

Politically, it holds a socially and economically conservative platform with a historically strong populist bent, but currently has few members among what would be called the "common people".

Death of a King

On the seventh of May, 1930, the Empeurer of Myroria, Nelvil II Moomintroth, died. In the traditional Myrorian fashion, in the main courtyard of the Imperial Residence, a cage containing 30 black swallowtail butterflies was opened and its contents released to signal the death of the monarch, though most of the populace had heard of the event on the news hours before.

Great House Moomintroth had held a majority on the Council throughout the Great War, but shortly after its end found its bound Houses fleeing its banner in alarming numbers. By 1920 it was clear to everyone on the Council and off that House Moomintroth would not hold enough seats to win the election once Nelvil II died.

Soon after his death, the two major contenders for the kingship were Fendryn Quarrovth, war hero and decorated general, and Avos Indiotrovth, an aristocrat of high birth. House Moomintroth, still of formidable size, was the wild card - whichever Great House could form a coalition with Moomintroth for the vote would surely take the throne. House Moomintroth seemed naturally inclined to side with Indiotrovth - both Houses were made up of aristocrats of noble birth, as opposed to Great House Quarrovth, whose head was a virtual commoner who, while wealthy, had spent years on the far-flung colony of Nouvé Resdaynia.

Almost immediately after Nelvil's death, though, rumors soon started to spread that House Indiotrovth had been infiltrated by Dunedain - wealthy aristocratic nobles of Eluvatar who couldn't be more hated among the rural populace of Myroria. Despite the rumors never being confirmed, wide outrage among the populace forced Great House Moomintroth to form a coalition with Great House Quarrovth and elect Fendryn to the throne in June of 1930.

Such politicking is common among the Great Houses, especially near an Imperial election. After Fendryn's election it was widely believed on the Council that retainers of House Quarrovth started and deliberately spread the rumors about Indiotrovth in order to win the election - Empeurer Fendryn never responded to these rumors.

[Letonna]

The Empire of Letonna, its politics past and present.

   The Empire of Letonna, throughout its history, has had a very awkward political system. When the people of letonna first banded together as a nation, they were a kingdom ruling through feudal rule. However, in the 1800’s, Letonna switched to a monarchy ruled by a unique system of ministries. In the past 40 years (1970-present) Letonna has made the transition to a parliamentary monarchy, leeching a lot of the power from the ministries and reducing a great amount of bureaucracy from its old political system




The Ministries

Through most of its history, Letonna had a very frustrating, top heavy and confusing system of ruling ministries. Each ministry controlled one sphere of government, anything from the postal service to the navy to the health department. Each ministry was ruled by a collective body of advisors and a minister. They would create new laws, that would need to be approved by a 70% majority vote of all ministers, OR the approval of the Emperor. Any law could be struck down at any time by a 70% majority vote of all ministers, or a direct order from the Emperor. Each Minister had the right to exercise complete control of their ministry in any way they sought fit (in compliances with already existing laws), however they still answered to the Emperor. Although there were laws protecting ministers from retaliation from the Emperor, it was very easy to legally ‘dispose’ of an uncooperative minister.
Ministries worth noting:

The Ministry of Justice:

This is the only ministry that doesn’t actively create laws, but rather enforces them. They can advise the Emperor regarding outdated or unethical laws. This ministry is not to be confused with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which operates the police. The Ministry of Justice operates the courts, provides specific guidelines to fines and penalties for law enforcement, and advises the Emperor regarding the effectiveness of laws.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs:

One of the more influential and powerful branches, this Ministry controls not only the police, but can summon military forces at its discretion for uses within the borders of the nation. A more difficult ministry to control, the MIA often encouraged and guided other ministries in inhumane activities against Neustrian residents in the early and middle part of the 20th century, claiming its activities necessary to secure the interests of the throne and the people.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Officially the diplomatic branch of the government, this agency promoted Letonna’s interests abroad. Unofficially, many espionage and unsavory activities were funded abroad by this ministry. Although The Government of Letonna never admitted it, it was accused of funding black markets and espionage in foreign nations through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Modern Letonna

In the 1970’s, the then Emperor of Letonna Installed a parliament to be elected by the people. The Ministries would instead answer to the parliament, instead of directly to the Emperor, while the parliament would need to go through the current Emperor/emperess to pass legislation.

With this switch of government, the Emperor became more fallible. He/she could be removed from power, although the process very complicated and timely. The Emperor could no longer make laws, and could only put them in suspension with permission from the Ministry of Justice. The Emperor retained control of the military, but to use excessive force had to be approved by parliament. Finally, the Emperor’s successor, although still technically in the Gyth dynasty, had to be approved by parliament as to avoid power struggles from siblings and rival family members.

[St Oz]

The Divine People’s Republic of Ozia
A lecture by a Comparative Government Professor at a Prydainian University

“Everyone settle down, this lecture is going to be complicated, and we’ll likely run out of time.” The teacher begins draw a big circle and several lines with rectangles. “Historically, there’s almost no difference to the structure of the first Divine Republic to the modern Divine People’s Republic. The only which being that instead of a politician having the freedom of choosing a party and a position, all politicians now must be a member of the Ozian People’s Party. This makes Ozian Government the oldest piece of shit on Taijitu really, but for some reason it works for them.”


rough drawing of the Ozian Government he draws

Gaea
“Now that I’ve completed our rough map, which only is a glow stick thrown down a murky lake, the biggest circle here, Gaea, is the head honcho of all Ozian Government. Who is Gaea you might ask? In Gaeanism, Gaea is the spirit of Taijitu, while all people, plants, animals, and a few other things themselves are spirits. Gaeanism technically isn’t a religion in Ozia, as religion is a foreign concept to describe things which are not true.” He slaps his hand on the large circle labeled Gaea, “In Ozia, Gaea is law, Gaea is fact, and Gaea is everything. That’s the most important thing you need to learn about this. What does this mean, is Gaea the head of state? No. Actually that’s the listener down here. Gaea instead is reality and nature. Whereas we think of the father, the son, and the holy ghost being three entities of one to forgive our sins, Gaea is everything, including sin. It’s very complicated. When you think of Gaea, you must think of human experience. The spirit of Taijitu is the shared spirit of all who live now, all who died, and all who will become alive. If that doesn’t make sense, think of a guy shooting his gun into the ground, he isn’t shooting Gaea, the act of shooting dirt is Gaea, the fact that there is dirt there is Gaea, the fact that he can breathe air is Gaea, and even the gun itself, an invention of the earth and mind of peoples, is Gaea. I’m tired of talking about Gaea, the fact that I’m tired is Gaea, you get it.”

The Listener
“Now we come to the listener, Sankta in Ozian. The Listener is descended spiritually from one of two people, the first Listener or her daughter. How do you become the Listener then? Well according to law it means you have to be the reincarnation of either of these two people. Usually it alternates except for a minor kerfuffle during the Ozian civil war when the listener was murdered by her own bodyguard. The process of finding these reincarnations takes years. Priestesses called seekers go around Ozia with items of the first listener, such as toys or hair or whatever. These seekers then test girls born in Ozia between the ages of born just one second ago to five years old. Oh yeah, the girl must first “have the body of a Fre’zhi, but the touch of a Praemian.” What does that mean? Essentially she has to have darker skin and purple eyes. This process goes on until these seekers pool a bunch of them together for more tests. After more tests the pool gets smaller until they all meet the current listener to decide if one is their spiritual mother or daughter. Sometimes the Listener will dismiss all of these candidates and the process has to start all over again, and this process doesn’t happen unless the current Listener says so.” He takes a moment to refresh his throat with a bottle of water, then eyes his watch with a sigh.

“So assuming one is all that and they are chosen the next listener. What then? Well then they have training. These girls are basically taken away from their parents to live at the Tower of the Listener in Ozi’pol and must learn how to be a Listener, under the direction of the older Listener. So technically there’s Listeners, but they don’t confirm their Listenership until the other dies, yadda yadda yah, poof the old Listener is dead and you are a learned Listener, or not. Sometimes they croak before the new listener has lost all of her baby teeth.”

“What does the Listener do? Well she listens, duh,” students groan as he laughs to himself. “But really she does, she listens to Gaea, up here, and makes decisions on what is best for Ozia based on what she hears. A Listener can pretty much do any damn thing she wants. She’s the boss. You can make fun of her all you want, which is different from many other super autocratic governments, but you cannot deny her orders. To deny her would be to deny Gaea, and as I said before, Gaea is law. Now these days the Sankta mostly has a passive role, but she will make decrees now and then, these days only about four or so a year. Usually they’re just council positions, which I’ll get to next. Every Listener during the confirmation of spirit will also recognize, or not, the government. Surprises can happen though. The most recent of which was when on the confirmation of Listener Sedilla Oz, she granted independence to Jutensa.”

“So after recognizing the government, she gets to select councilwomen to these entities over here on the left called Divine People’s Councils, or DPCs for short. The Listener gets to appoint 7 councilwomen to each of these DPCs. Aside from that the Listener also gets to manage the Divine People’s Council of Authors, which is basically,” He looked at his watch, crap, almost out of time. “The list is basically one hundred authors who are hand chosen by the Listener who are believed to be inspirational and immortal to Ozian thought. When one of these authors dies, she can appoint a new one. Artists are also eligible for positions. This is the only DPC that allows men into the club. The powers of these council membmers will be for the next lecture. She also gets to approve the Primavs of both the People’s Senate and the Autonomous Senates. Lastly she can appoint as many priestesses to her own personal divine council, keep in mind not a DPC, just a DC. These priestesses help with the inner workings of Gaeanism. Not much is really known on the structures as they change every Listener.”

“So that’s just these two circles. This is only the tip of the iceberg too, next time I’ll tackle these DPC roles, though each DPC could take a whole day if I wanted to, then hopefully we can cover the Senates and local governments before the next test. Now, get the hell out of here.”