Government of Great Thornia

The **Government of Great Thornia** is the federal government of Great Thornia. Thornia's system of government is a hybrid of direct democracy, representative democracy, and authoritarianism (at a provincial level). Responsibilities are split between the **Ezgeriet** (head of state), the **Achalon** (head of *federal* government and the civil service), the **Parliament of Great Thornia**, and the **Armed Forces of Thornia-Aphthonis** (at least in the territories which they administer directly).

All provinces of Great Thornia are nominally self-governing, with the right to carry out its own infrastructure and urbanisation projects, agriculture, mining, trade, and welfare. They were previously allowed to levy taxes on their own residents, but since 2022 provincial residency is no longer formally stated or recorded.

Since November 2022, parliament had been dissolved along with all political parties. The Office of the Ezgeriet and the armed forces have since ruled the country in a state of limbo, neither a full dictatorship nor in preparation to declare elections. The State Secretariat, the former civil service body, was revived in anticipation of a protracted period of conflict before the country is deemed ready for another round of elections.

## Executive

The executive branch of Thornia is divided between the President and the Prime Minister.

### Head of state

*See: List of heads of state of Thornia*

The head of state of Thornia is the **President**. The office of the presidency is responsible for foreign policy and functions as the highest court of the land (interpretation of laws, settling disputes between provinces, etc). The President is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Long before the civil war, the President was directly elected by all citizens in the Citizen's Assembly once a year (every 1 or 5 January, the anniverseries of the founding of Great Thornia, unless a quorum of 3 members cannot be met on those days). If the President was absent or if the office was vacant with no candidates standing for election, all powers were automatically held by the State Secretary of the Interior.

In the aftermath of the civil war, the rules for election were overhauled but failed to mention term limits or regularly-scheduled elections. Therefore a President may rule indefinitely until toppled by a vote of no confidence in parliament.

### Head of government

*See: List of heads of government of Thornia*

The de jure head of government of Thornia was the **Prime Minister**. They were responsible for the management of the national treasury, law enforcement, infrastructure, and other aspects of government that are shared across all provinces and territories.

The office of Prime Minister was the original spiritual successor to the office of **State Secretary of the Interior**. Like that office, there appears to be no formal process for their election and therefore they could rule indefinitely like the President. Since November 2022, the restored State Secretariat had more or less also brought about the recreation of the role of State Secretary of the Interior, though now as the **Chief Secretary of State Administration**, and then later renamed to the Thornian name of **Achelon** (or elder, as they are expected to remain a constant through the rule of all elected governments).

### Governor of a province

The **governor** of a province is the head of government of a province. The governor wields almost total executive power over the internal affairs of their province. This includes infrastructure projects, urban planning, agriculture, and mining. They may not conduct their own foreign policy or handle foreign affairs without the express permission of the President.

If seeking funding from the federal government, they must request funds via parliament. They must also ask parliament for approval if their infrastructure projects span the territory of other provinces (unless they govern those provinces themselves).

The province's constitution or law determines if the governor of the province is elected by its residents or is appointed by the previous governor.

## State Secretariat

The State Secretariat is the civil service body, or the administrative component, of the executive branch of the central government. The secretariat was originally founded on 1 January 2020, but was eventually merged directly into the various ministries of the central government in the same year. The lack of an autonomous administrative body to handle taxation, funding, public works, and maintain infrastructure had allowed basic facilities across the country to fall into disrepair throughout the Thornian conflict of the early 2020s.

In late November 2022, the State Secretariat was restored with many of its original responsbilities. The President assumed the role of Chief Secretary of State Administration, the new title of the leader of the State Secretariat.

## Legislature

*See: Parliament of Great Thornia*

In the aftermath of the civil war, the Parliament of Great Thornia was reformed to be more open to interaction from the citizenry. It was also reformed so that failed laws or petitions would not be expunged from the political process. The Council of State, the former upper house, was replaced by the Council of Governors. The lower house was replaced entirely by the Chamber of Petitions.

### Pre-civil war arrangements

#### Council of State

The Council of State was the upper house of parliament, and was attended by the President, State Secretary of the Interior, and governors of the provinces. Deputy State Secretaries were also allowed to attend if any are appointed by the President or the State Secretary. Council members introduced, debated, and voted on laws, as well as vetoed or demanded amendments of laws passed by the Citizen's Assembly.

All members held only one vote each, regardless of how many offices they held (e.g. governor of multiple provinces, State Secretary while being a governor of a province, etc). A citizens' petition with a minimum of 3 citizens endorsing it would have forced a session of the Council of State.

#### Citizen's Assembly

The Citizen's Assembly was the lower house of parliament, and was attended (voluntarily) by all citizens of Thornia. Just like the Council of State, it was where members introduced, debated, and voted on laws. It also scrutinised laws passed by the Council of State and demanded amendments, but not veto them.

All citizens held only one vote each. If a citizens' petition did not force a Council of State (if it was refused or ignored), then a citizen was allowed to call and chair a Citizen's Assembly to debate the petition and the Council of State's refusal or ignoring of the petition.

## Funding

The Treasury is the main body responsible for the procurement and maintainence of national funds. Historical Umic laws established a barter-based tax system existed between 2016 and 2017, but ceased to be enforced beyond then by both the Province of Ume (the de facto direct successor to the Umic government) and the federal government (the de jure successor). Almost all funding has been sourced by provincial governments since 2019 via mining, trade, and political donations by the nobility.

As of late May 2022, the federal government has been considering whether it should procure rare minerals such as emeralds, copper, gold, and diamonds from the provinces as a means of re-establishing the treasury's holdings. Having rare minerals instead of storing a large variety of minerals would be considered the most flexible option for the government as it could purchase whatever rare items it may need or whenever prices are at its lowest rather than continuously maintaining its own stock.

## Democratic rights

### Voting

All citizens of Thornia are given the right to participate in elections, referendums, petitions, vote in the Chamber of Petitions, and to hold any office of government.

### Eligibility for office

A citizen who is offered or granted the citizenship of another country and does not respond to the offer is regarded to have accepted the offer unless they declare to the Thornian government (to either the President, Prime Minister, their Governor, parliament, or by petition that is endorsed by at least 3 other citizens) that they reject the offer.

Only the President is required to not have dual citizenship (only Thornian citizenship). If it is discovered that the President is a dual citizen, or is discovered to have been offered or granted dual citizenship before they reject it, then the Prime Minister automatically assumes all powers of the presidency. This rule has largely been ignored since the Thornian Civil War since the President of Great Thornia was also the President of Aphthonis.

### Degradation

The adoption of democratic processes has not been entirely smooth sailing. Despite the Reformist Party being the one to implement it nationwide, it has sought to maintain its grip over the wealthier provinces of Elysia and Petrodis, and their dependent and militarily strategic provinces of Galinisia and Porta-Meridia, through funding initiatives and inter-provincial trade deals. These deals have effectively forced all four provinces to function under one authority in the form of the Reformist Party.

The continuous lack of public interest in politics since the Thornian Civil War and the inactivity of the government of Ume has practically allowed the Reformist Party to run the country single-handedly and with minimal protest (aside from the unpopular Metropolitan Thornia arrangement).

## History

The Government of Great Thornia could trace its origins to the organisation of the South Seas Company, which founded the Thornica Colony in 2016. It has since evolved into its current form with numerous changes to its departments and the title of the nation's leader, but has largely kept its authoritarian, centralised basis.

### South Seas Company (mid 2016)

The South Seas Company was founded in 2016 in Ume City. The company's goal was to discover regions around the southern Umic Sea which could provide exotic or unique resources for trade with Ume's neighbours of Xandu and the nascent Tyavylian nation. The company established colonial outposts in Birca and Baoratovia. The running of these colonies were largely under the purview of the Ume City Council.

Dismal profits from trade of products from these colonies led to the company venturing northward towards what is now the Bay of Thornia. It discovered Steaker's Island and established the Thornica Colony there, much to the chagrin of the Ume City Council which believed further colonisation was unnecessary. Due to this dispute, the company established the position of Governor. The Governor ruled as an autocrat over the colony to enforce company decisions.

### First independence (late 2016)

Further disputes between the Ume City Council and the South Seas Company led to the Governor declaring himself King, and renaming the colony to the Kingdom of Oster (this was quickly changed to the Kingdom of Thornia). The kingdom did not have any real changes in its system of government.

### Reunification with Ume (late 2016 - 5 January 2020)

The Umic and Thornian governments eventually negotiated the formation of the Association of Umic States, the forerunner to the League of Palus. This saw Ume City, Thornia, and the Yhuga Colony form a federation with each member state retaining their autonomy. Thornia's naval assets (inherited from the company) became the Umic Navy. Thornia's system of government did not see any real change until 2019 when the despotate was established.

During its time in the federation, Thornia frequently alternated between being a republic and monarchy.

The association evolved into the theocratic Holy States, with Thornia gradually becoming the leading power of the federation. The lack of a quorum for discussions over who would lead the federation led to the Thornian government seizing power in November 2019, establishing the infamous November Government. From this point onwards, Thornia's government effectively functioned as the suzerain of the entire Umic world. The November Government replaced the Holy States with the League of Palus.

A brief period of resistance by other member states of the League of Palus led to Thornia's ruler, Clarence, dividing his territories so that the newer and potentially wealthier portions of Thornia (Aphthonis) were outside of the League.

A civil service, then known as the Secretariat of the Joint-States of the East, was established on 1 January 2020 to unify the administration of all territories ruled under Clarence both within and outside the league. This organisation was necessary due to the still under-developed Kingdom of Aphthonis cronically running out of funds in the midst of the First Pillager War.

### Second independence (5 January 2020 - Present)

#### First monarchy (5 January 2020 - 10 April 2020)

Anger against other member states of the league led to Thornia leaving the league and reunifying with the Kingdom of Aphthonis. This new state became the modern state of Great Thornia. The monarchy of Aphthonis became that of the entire state (Goruid was ruled more like a province rather than a monarchy).

The monarchy was represented by the institution of the Crown of Great Thornia, which also functioned as the national treasury. The Secretariat was eventually merged into the Crown.

#### Socialist era (10 April 2020 - 7 May 2020)

The Crown was dissolved with the first overthrow of the monarchy by the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party. The party leadership structure replaced the government, with the party's General-Secretary as the paramount leader of the nation.

#### Second monarchy (7 May 2020 - August 2020)

The shortlived socialist era came to an end with the return of the monarchy. However, the Crown largely absorbed the party and its ideology, creating an odd hybrid regime.

#### Golden Trident era and civil war (August 2020 - January 2022)

*See: Thornian Civil War*

The hybrid regime was later replaced by the Order of the Golden Trident, which ruled the country through a Transitional Council. The council re-established the civil service as the State Secretariat. Provinces were also made nominally partially autonomous, and the Provincial Autonomy Law came into effect (this gave provinces the right to request for true autonomy, albeit requiring a review by the central government).

The Transitional Council was later dissolved and replaced by the office of Chief of State. Unlike all previous regimes, the Chief of State was also the true head of the Thornian Army. This made the Golden Trident regime the first true military dictatorship of Thornia. Ideologically, the Golden Trident regime has absorbed all past regimes' ideologies and merged it with its polytheistic religious cult to form a broad platform that balances Thornian nationalism with a balanced foreign policy.

The office of Chief of State was later renamed to President, and most of its executive power has since been returned to the State Secretariat (as was initially intended for the institution in early 2020). The country was made a de jure federal republic, granting all provinces nominal self-governance. However as the Golden Trident and the Thornian Army had almost complete control of the country, it remained as a de facto technocratic military dictatorship.

The monarchy took back power at the end of 2020 and ruled the country until the end of 2021. Nationalism was rampant and royal power largely went unchecked. Failed forays into Xandu and the crippling effect of the Pillager Wars and the Great Plague led to gradual societal collapse.

### Post-civil war democracy (February 2022)

An insurrection by legions in Aphthonis led to the establishment of a military junta known as the People's Republic of Thornia that oversaw the reset of Thornian political culture. A constitutional convention was called to write a new constitution. Aphthonis was granted independence and the League of Palus (already occupied by the Thornian Army) was annexed by the Thornian rump state. Both Thornia and Aphthonis formed a confederation known as Thornia-Aphthonis.

Governing largely fell into the hands of provincial governments. The "radical centrist" Reformist Party rose to power simultaneously in the Province of Elysia and Aphthonis in March 2022, and within a week it took power as the central government. The party oversaw the largest and fastest economic boom in the country's history; it also reconciled the capitalist-industrialist and pro-welfare factions of political society under its wing. The Sea of Temples Crisis saw the party negotiate a peaceful reunification of Aphthonis and Thornia. It used the opportunity to negotiate a new, more democratic constitution (which saw the creation of the Chamber of Petitions) and greatly expanded the government's role in providing welfare.