Government of Nesaria

The **Government of Nesaria** is complex and somewhat contradictory. It combines elements of direct democracy, representative democracy, feudal monarchy and some traits of theocracy. The Nesarian government has existed in its current form since the Bloodless Revolution of 1980, which brought back many democratic elements that had been degraded or removed under the pseudo-fascist reign of Emperor Adrion - though its roots are in the constitution of Emperor Mathados IV, the first Emperor of Nesaria.

Nesaria has a bicameral Parliament, with a democratically elected lower house and an unelected upper house, but this is not the supreme legislative or executive body; its role is primarily deliberative, with ultimate legislative power lying with the Popular Assemblies and the Emperor, and executive power lies with the Great Magistrates and - again - the Emperor. The lower house of Parliament, the Assembly of Sheriffs, also differs from most parliamentary systems in that its members are more alike mayors than ministers; their primary function is as elected governors of their local constituency, rather than being representatives of a constituency in Parliament.

Although the head of state of Nesaria is the Emperor, usually the Emperor appoints a First Lord (*Asu Vala*) to take his place in the processes of government so that he may focus on the Imperial Government; it is very rare that an Emperor is capable of managing both Nesaria and the entire Empire. The First Lord is typically the primary heir who will inherit the Emperorship, and the office is used to train them how to rule so that they are prepared to reign over the entire Empire. Alternatively, if no adult heir is available, the First Lord is usually one of the Emperor's siblings. Throughout this article, where the Emperor is mentioned, one can swap him out for the First Lord and the government would - and does - function in the same way.

The Emperor may be described as the head of government, but in practical terms there is no singular leader, and executive power is shared amongst the elected Great Magistrates - who are elected individually rather than all at once in a general election. The Emperor has no authority to overrule the Great Magistrates without a state of emergency being declared either by the Nesarian Parliament or the Imperial Government, meaning that Nesaria's highest executive offices operate with a huge degree of independence. However, the Emperor does have the ability to dismiss a Great Magistrate - or any other governmental minister or magistrate - at any time and demand a new election, and it is this method through which the Emperor keeps the Great Magistrates in line. It is rare for the Emperor to directly dismiss one of the Great Magistrates; usually they are convinced to voluntarily resign to avoid the shame of being fired.

## Great Magistrates

The Great Magistrates (*Exu Atherane*) are defined as magistrates who answer to the Emperor directly rather than another higher-ranking magistrate. Though in the English-speaking world the term "magistrate" mainly refers to an officer who administers the law, a Nesarian magistrate (*Atheran*) is mainly an executive officer, who may or may not have judicial powers.

The collective of Great Magistrates is sometimes referred to as the Cabinet, but the Nesarians themselves generally do not use this term. Academics also tend to refrain from describing them as a Cabinet since the term implies that the Great Magistrates were appointed and work in unison under the clear direction of a single leader, which is not the case. The Emperor does rule over the Great Magistrates, but outside of a state of emergency - which must be declared both by Parliament and by a special Popular Assembly - he cannot directly overrule them, and so he is incapable of exercising complete control over the Great Magistrates or micromanaging their decisions.

The Emperor does, however, possess the ability to dismiss a Great Magistrate and call a new election at any time for any reason. By holding the threat of dismissal over the heads of the Great Magistrates, the Emperor is capable of pressuring them towards certain general policy directions. However, Emperors understand the risks of this method, and they very rarely dismiss highly popular Great Magistrates even if they defy the Emperor's will. There also exists a convention of petitioning the Emperor to dismiss unpopular Great Magistrates; the Emperor is not obligated to pay any mind to these, but traditionally the Emperor sends such petitions to be debated by Parliament, and follows their advice on whether to keep or dismiss the Great Magistrate. Dismissal is never handled directly by a Popular Assembly.

### Difference between Magistrates and Ministers

Magistrates (*Atherane*) are not to be confused with Ministers (*Vexatore*) in the Nesarian system of government - and likewise, Great Magistrates (*Exu Atherane*) are not to be confused with Great Ministers (*Exu Vexatore* - though often pronounced as *Ecu Vexatore*). The distinction lies in their accountability; though both classes ultimately answer to the Emperor, a Magistrate is defined as an officer who is either elected by the people or has been appointed by someone who was elected, making them answerable to the people. A Minister, by contrast, is appointed either by the Emperor, another Minister or an appointed Magistrate, and is not directly accountable to the general public.

The Great Ministers, therefore, are those Ministers who were appointed by the Emperor directly and have no superior besides the Emperor himself. They occupy roles that are considered to be either too critical to national security and stability to be beholden to elections, or too niche and unimportant to bother holding an election for them. The most important of these is the Great Minister of War (*Megai Exu Vexator*), who oversees the military forces of Nesaria.

### Permanent Magistrates

Certain Great Magistrates have been created and discarded over the centuries to deal with pressing issues. Great Magistracies may only be created or dissolved by the Emperor, but convention dictates that he follows the advice of Parliament on the matter.

However, there are five Great Magistracies which have, in one form or another, existed uninterrupted since the ancient Kingdom of Ascaria; these are known as the Permanent Magistracies (*Terageru Atherane*), or alternatively the Greatest Magistracies (*Exui Atherane*). Even though some other Great Magistracies are highly important and may be centuries old, the Permanent Magistracies refers only to those that have truly existed since time immemorial.

The five Permanent Magistrates deal with the most important matters of state, and their elections have significantly more popular interest than other magistrates. Voter turnout for electing the Permanent Magistrates is consistently in the 65-80% range, whereas less important magistracies struggle to reach 50%, a phenomenon usually attributed to voter fatigue due to so many elections. Only the most politically involved citizens bother to vote for anything beyond the Permanent Magistrates and their local Sheriff.

The Permanent Magistrates are as follows:

* **Lord of the Treasury -** Manages the treasury and all matters related to state finance and economic policy. This is often seen as the most powerful and prestigious Great Magistracy since it can indirectly wield control over all the other Great Magistracies through budgeting, and it is the only one referred to as a Lordship, with the Great Magistrate being referred to as a Lord (*Vala*) while in office.
* **Chief Justiciar -** A far-reaching office that manages all matters related to law and order, including the police service, fire and rescue services, immigration control and domestic security services. The Chief Justiciar historically also managed the prison system and had indirect management of the courts, but these duties were moved to two separate Great Ministers in the 10th century.
* **Chief Speaker** - Serves as the Speaker of the Assembly of Sheriffs as well as presiding over all other Speakers, the minor magistrates who oversee the Popular Assemblies. His set of powers is highly specific but also highly significant, as he decides the order of debates in the Assembly of Sheriffs - the most important house of Parliament - and he has the authority to propose bills to the People's Assembly directly, without needing to first get a bill approved by Parliament.
* **Magistrate of Works** - Oversees all manner of public works, and has a wide base of lower Magistrates and Ministers to rely on to cover the broad duties. The Magistrate of Works oversees all public infrastructure related to transport, electricity, water, sewage and gas, as well as public monuments.
* **Great Caretaker** - Originally a Ministry dedicated to managing sanitation and the integrity of housing, the office was turned into a Great Magistracy by Emperor Mathados IV and was given the additional duty of supplying grain to Ascaria, which was a pressing issue at the time. The modern Great Caretaker no longer deals with sanitation or housing, instead overseeing the nation's hospitals, social care system, and welfare system.

### Elections

Each Great Magistrate serves for a term of five years, though a Great Magistrate can remain in office much longer as there are no term limits; the longest-serving Great Magistrate, the Chief Speaker Yalvon Clerion, served for seven consecutive terms - a total of 35 years. Each Great Magistrate is elected individually rather than all at once in a general election, with their elections being staggered so as to not overlap. This bears a strong resemblance to how executive offices are elected in the Republic of Onshi, but the similarities are coincidental; the two systems developed independently.

If a Great Magistrate needs to be replaced due to death, incapability or dismissal, the Emperor appoints an individual to temporarily hold the office and a by-election is scheduled for no earlier than 40 days and no later than 120 days after the office became vacant; the delay before the by-election is to give candidates time to prepare and campaign. This is unless the office became vacant within the last 180 days of the term, in which case there is no by-election and the appointed temporary replacement remains for the rest of the term.

### History

The Great Magistrates began their existence under the Kingdom of Ascaria, as a mix of appointed and elected officials. Some historians have described them as a product of Ascaria's synthesis of Elvic and native traditions (despite the Kingdom presenting itself as wholly Elvic); it combined the more democratic and oligarchic native style of government with the more autocratic Elvic style.

To begin with, only the Chief Speaker and Magistrate of Works were elected, but the Chief Justiciar also became an elected position under the reign of Queen Calia, a move designed to win her the approval of the Ascarian people since they were suspicious of an Eshérian ruler. Eventually all the Great Magistracies (except the Great Caretaker, which remained an appointed Ministry) became elected under the Republic of Nesaria, which is when the distinction between a Magistrate and Minister was properly drawn.

Though the Republican founders gave their government a veneer of democracy, they heavily restricted voting rights for electing certain Great Magistrates - particularly the Lord of the Treasury - and they skewed the whole system of voting to favour the wealthy over the peasants. When Emperor Mathados IV took the throne and destroyed the Republic, he turned the Great Caretaker into an elected Magistracy, lifted the voting restrictions and abolished the system of weighting votes by wealth.

The Magistracies have had their roles and duties altered since then, but the fundamentals of the offices have remained the same for over 2000 years. The main changes came not in how the Great Magistracies function, but rather how they are elected; when the Windway system became entrenched in Nesaria, voting stations opened across the country - rather than holding the election solely in Capera - which then transported the votes to Capera on the Windway. The system of counting votes has since been developed and expanded upon, and modern Nesaria has a voting station in every town to give all citizens across the country easy access to voting.

## Popular Assemblies

The Popular Assemblies of Nesaria are institutions that allow citizens to vote directly on legislation. There are three distinct types of Popular Assembly which each deal with different matters and which function slightly differently; the Legislative Assembly, the People's Assembly, and the Emergency Assembly.

Each Assembly must be called and presided over by a Speaker, a minor Magistrate subordinate to the Chief Speaker. The Speaker is tasked with reading out the bill or proposal to be voted on, as well as reading the official opinion of Parliament. The Emperor may also give his opinion, but he is not obligated to; choosing not to give an opinion is seen as the Emperor announcing that he will accept whatever result the people decide upon. The Speakers for the Legislative and Emergency Assemblies are appointed by the Chief Speaker, whereas the Speaker of the People's Assembly is elected. As is the case with most minor Magistrates, the Speaker of the People's Assembly serves for life (or until voted out) rather than being chosen by regular recurring elections.

The legislative authority of the Popular Assemblies only goes halfway, as the Emperor has the ability to veto their decisions. A bill must have the support of a Popular Assembly in order to be passed, but the Emperor may still choose to reject a bill that has been approved by the people; ultimately all bills require the Emperor's assent in order to become law. In practice, however, the Emperor vetoing a Popular Assembly is very rare. This is not only because Emperors understand the negative consequences of defying the people, but also because bills that the Emperor has expressed disapproval of almost always get rejected by the Popular Assemblies; even if the voters have no genuine respect for the Emperor's judgement, the Emperor disapproving of a bill is seen as a sign that he is highly likely to veto it, so few voters bother to vote in favour.

Though the Popular Assemblies are physical locations within Capera, voters have not been required to actually visit the location to cast their vote since the 4th century, when the Windway network enabled all forms of voting to be spread out across Nesaria. Attendance at the physical Assembly itself is mostly ceremonial, in order to hear the Speaker in person. Even so, participation in the Assemblies is usually very low; outside of particularly pressing matters, it is rare to see more than 20% of registered voters cast a vote in an Assembly.

### Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly (LA) is the most frequently called Assembly. It is initiated by Parliament; bills that are proposed in Parliament eventually make their way to the LA to be voted on. Bills approved by Parliament always go to the LA, whereas bills that Parliament disapproves of can only go to the LA under certan circumstances.

A disapproved bill always automatically goes to the LA if at least 40% of Parliament (counted as the total members in both Houses) approved of it, and the Emperor can force a disapproved bill to be voted on by the LA if at least 25% of Parliament voted in favour. Bills with less support than this can never go to the LA.

### People's Assembly

The People's Assembly (PA) is more directly controlled by the people. It is the only one to have an elected rather than appointed Speaker, and rather than responding to bills proposed by Parliament, either the Chief Speaker or the Speaker of the PA can propose bills of their own accord. The PA is also the only Assembly that restricts voting rights, in that it is only open to commoners; both noble aristocrats and Members of Parliament cannot participate, unless they are themselves either the Chief Speaker or Speaker of the PA.

There are no specific laws controlling how the Chief Speaker or Speaker of the PA can propose bills, but many conventions do exist. For example, tradition dictates that a petition supporting a bill with a large number of signatories should compel a vote to be held on it in the PA; in modern times, the number of supporters a petition is required to reach is 100,000. The Chief Speaker and Speaker of the PA also generally do not propose nonsense bills with low support, on the understanding that doing so will almost certainly end their political career in short order.

### Emergency Assembly

The Emergency Assembly (EA) is a special Assembly that convenes to decide whether or not to declare a state of emergency and grant the Emperor autocratic powers. A vote on this matter may be called either by Parliament, by the Chief Speaker, or by the Emperor as long as he has the support of the Lord of the Treasury or the Chief Justiciar.

Historically, the Emperor had the ability to call this Assembly by himself - however, the support of the Lord of the Treasury and Chief Justiciar was added in the Bloodless Revolution to provide an additional check on the Emperor's power.

The EA is obviously the least frequently used Popular Assembly, as few Emperors have had cause to declare a state of emergency. However, when it is called, it consistently has the highest turnout; whilst most Assemblies struggle to reach 20% of voters and only the most crucial of votes will have 50% turnout, all instances of the EA being called have seen approximately 70% or more of citizens casting a vote. The most recent example - Emperor Adrion's call for a state of emergency upon his accession - had approximately 86% of citizens participating, with approximately 73% voting in favour.

## Assembly of Sheriffs

The Assembly of Sheriffs consists of Sheriffs who each represent a Sheriffdom (also translated as Shrievalty), of which there are 304. Sheriff is the accepted English translation of the Nesarian term *Eltan* (plural *Eltane*), which is the Elvicised form of a native word which appears in various forms, but most commonly as either *Halten* or *Aeltann*. A *Halten* in traditional native Nesarian society denoted any non-sovereign local leader who was chosen by the people rather than appointed by the king.

Following the spread of Elvic civilisation and the slow reformation of society under the Elvic kingdoms (particularly the Kingdom of Ascaria), the *Eltan* transformed to become the chosen representative of the people of a community to the lord that ruled over them. *Eltane* initially represented very small communities of just a few households, but expanded over time with the natural growth of the population. One of the key complaints of rural Nesarians during the Republican era that led so many of them to side with the monarchist revolt of Emperor Mathados IV was the erosion of the power of the *Eltane*, and in some cases their complete removal, in favour of the senatorial aristocracy. Somewhat ironically, it was the monarchist faction that restored the ability of Nesarian rural folk to choose their own leaders.

Over time, the powers and responsibilities of the Sheriffs grew; they were granted managerial duties by the lords above them, and at the onset of the Time of Troubles they were granted the responsibility of managing the local militia and handling recruitment for it - though the command of the militia and the right to call local men to arms in the first place still lay with the lord. It was established in ancient times that a Sheriff must be approved by the lord who rules over them, but Emperor Mathados IV - alongside restoring the traditional status of the Sheriffs - wrote into law that a lord who rejects a Sheriff must bring his case before the Emperor to explain why he believes the will of the people to be incorrect, and the choice of Sheriff can then only be rejected if the Emperor agrees with the lord's assessment.

Under the reign of Emperor Paravon I, the Sheriffs were organised into the Assembly of Sherifffs so that they could bring matters directly to the attention of the Emperor rather than having to go through multiple layers of noble office. The Sheriffs chose from amongst themselves a Chief Sheriff, who was the one actually responsible for speaking to the Emperor on the Assembly's behalf. In the aftermath of the Time of Troubles, the Assembly of Sheriffs was given the ability to introduce bills and vote on legislation.

The Assembly remained virtually unchanged up until the Bloodless Revolution, when the system was reformed to make it more closely resemble a western-style democracy. Rather than being elected by the people for life, Sheriffs were to be elected once every five years. Their role has also transitioned to become more alike Members of Parliament; they are organised into political parties and delegate most of their old managerial duties to civil servants. However, they are nonetheless distinct from MPs, as they are still fundamentally local governors rather than merely representatives.

Nominating oneself for the election merely requires the support of at least ten other individuals, six of which must not be from the nominee's family. A nominee may be of any social status; it became common in around the 3rd century AD for Sheriffs to be of the landed gentry, and even some true aristocrats have been elected to the position. However, most Sheriffs throughout history were yeomen, which in the context of Nesarian society refers to an independent freeholder whose estates are not large enough to raise them to the status of the gentry. For greater detail, see the page on Nesarian Traditional Social Structure.

## Council of Lords

The Council of Lords consists of a mix of hereditary, clerical and appointed members who are collectively referred to as lords. The Council of Lords was established long before the Assembly of Sheriffs, originally as an advisory council for the King of Ascaria (and later the Emperor of Nesaria) which developed over time into a body that partook in legislation.

Hereditary peers - officially the Nobles of the Realm - are actual true lords, in the sense that they are aristocrats who own a landed title, however the lord himself is not always the one who shows up at the Council; most lords whose territories are distant from Capera will send a representative from their dynasty in their stead. The territory that a Noble of the Realm rules, officially referred to as a Holding of the Realm (or more commonly a "landholding" or "holding"), usually shares the same boundaries as the Sheriffdom of the same area. Although Nobles of the Realm have lost most of their traditional powers, they are still the *de jure* rulers and partial owners of all the land within their holding. They are charged with "ensuring the prosperity and proper defence" of their holding, and retain the right to raise and command the local militia. As mentioned earlier in the section on the Assembly of Sheriffs, the lord is also responsible for approving any Sheriffs who rule under him, but if he rejects the people's choice of Sheriff he must explain his reasoning to the Emperor, and his decision will be overturned if the Emperor disagrees. The relationship between the lord of a holding and the Sheriff and whichever one is more powerful can vary significantly between communities, and depends not only upon local customs but also the specific personalities of the lord and the Sheriff, and often also the opinion of the locals as to which one they prefer.

Appointed peers - officially the Nobles of the Title, or Titular Nobles - are people who have been appointed by the Emperor with the right to sit on the Council of Lords, usually due to their experience or expertise in a critical subject. The Council of Lords votes on whether to approve or disapprove of an appointment, but they cannot legally remove an appointed peer; they can only make their disapproval known. However, every recorded case of the Council officially declaring their disapproval of an appointment has resulted in the peer being removed by the Emperor. Appointed peers are considered to be nobility, but as their official name (Nobles of the Title) implies, they are not granted any land to rule, and their status cannot be inherited by their heirs.

Clerical peers - officially the Gentlemen of the Clergy - include representatives from both the Elvetan priesthood and the Exarchate of Nesaria, the Nesarian regional branch of the Patriarchate of Inecuria, the institution of Orthodox Christianity. Although more religions besides these are officially recognised as part of the fabric of Nesarian society, these are the two most dominant religions by an overwhelming margin.