Imperial Government

The **Imperial Government** is the governing body of the Imperial State, the federal sovereign government of the Nesarian Empire. The Imperial Government is split into two parts, similarly to a bicameral governing body; the Imperial Council is similar to a lower house, and the Emperor himself fulfils the role of the upper house.

Unlike in most modern monarchical states, the Emperor is actively involved in all matters of governance; he wields supreme executive, judicial and military authority, and he wields legislative authority alongside the Imperial Council. However, conventions still dictate that the Emperor has less power in practice than he does on paper; though he is technically able to override or ignore the Imperial Council on many matters, it is expected that he consults them and follows their advice, and few Emperors throughout history have been willing to force through actions or judgements that the Council disapproved of.

Although modifications have been made over the centuries, the relationship between the Emperor and the Imperial Council and the relationship between the Imperial Government and the Imperial Countries have both remained largely the same since the conclusion of the Time of Troubles and the reforms of Emperor Amelos, in the 960s AD (2460s INC). The most notable changes made since this time were in the aftermath of the War of Powder (1631-1639 AD, 3131-3139 INC) - when the ability of Imperial Countries to muster and move their own troops was greatly limited - and during the reign of Emperor Adrion (1930-1982 AD, 3430-3482 INC) - when many democratic or semi-democratic elements were removed and the Emperor was given greater authority to override or veto the laws and actions of his subjects. Most of Adrion's reforms were undone following the Bloodless Revolution of 1980.

## Judiciary

Although most Imperial Countries have some manner of supreme court within their own jurisdiction, there is no such institution for the Nesarian Empire as a whole - for it is the Emperor himself who is the supreme judge. Though both historical civil wars and the ancient Elvic traditions of governance somewhat restrict the Emperor when it comes to enacting new laws or revoking old ones, the Emperor is completely supreme when it comes to the application of laws currently in effect. In both criminal and civil legal disputes, the Emperor's word is final and overrides all prior judgements, and sets the precedent for future judgements - unless the Emperor overturns the decision himself.

There is only one real check on the Emperor's judicial authority, which is that when the Emperor is intervening in a legal dispute outside of Nesaria itself, he must do so at the behest of a "requestor" (which must be either the primary prosecutor or defendant) from the country the dispute is taking place in; only within Nesaria can he intervene on his own terms without first being requested to do so. This rule is more restrictive than it may first appear, for every Imperial Country besides Nesaria has regulations concerning when a participant in a legal dispute is legally allowed to contact the Emperor to request his intervention; typically, it is only permitted if the dispute has already risen to the highest level of the local country's judicial system.

Though convention dictates that the Emperor respects this rule, some Emperors have historically exploited a fatal loophole in this system to intervene in legal disputes that have not yet risen through the courts. It is possible for a requestor to simply ignore the local laws and request the Emperor's judgement anyway; though this would land them with criminal charges, such charges would inevitably be dealt with in a high-level court where the requestor is then legally permitted to request the Emperor's judgement. The Emperor can then use his supreme judicial authority to drop the criminal charges against the requestor, and then intervene in the case he was originally requested for. Even though the process of requesting violated local laws, the Emperor has nonetheless still been requested, making his intervention completely legal according to the constitution.

Although such a system is potentially wide open to tyrannical behaviour from the Emperor, in practice the Emperors have learnt the lessons of history and do not use their supreme judicial power outside of extreme circumstances. The Time of Troubles showed all future Emperors the dangers of cutting through the courts, especially for disputes with strong public interest; ruling against the popular will, though legal, is well-understood to be a recipe for disaster.