Phyharan Arceneaux

**Phyharan Arceneaux** (38 Spring, 184 472 – 12 Autumn, 273 472) was the first Monarch of the Kingdom of Corrapaise, founder of Phyria, Thinker of the Doctrineers, and served as Monarch of Corrapaise for 63 years. A writer and philosopher, she created a set of ideas she called The Doctrine which detailed the values of a society governed by monarchy and the autocratic rule of an individual or a small group to ensure the safety of the monarchy's subjects, culture, and land, and how she would be the ideal person to lead such a society. Phyharan amassed a following of people known as the Doctrineers who believed in her ideas and gave her the title of Thinker, a symbolic role demonstrating her contributions to the philosophy.

She had one child, her daughter Corra.

## Philosophy

Phyharan was the originator of the philosophy of The Doctrine. In her book *The Doctrine: Ensuring Effective and Legitimate Rule*, she outlined her view of the benefits of an autocracy led by an absolute monarch. In Phyharan's view, the most efficient method of ensuring that a society can maintain its leadership is to have its leadership position predetermined, with the simplest, most direct method being inheritance by family members. Such a method also solves what she described as the "problem of legitimacy", the idea of the public need to recognize that leaders of nations have the right to that position, or the leader be overthrown, which as Phyharan writes would be a disastrous outcome. Familial inheritance, however, would give a direct justification for the next leader to rule.

To Phyharan, government exists to protect a society's people, culture, and land. Individuals acting in their own self interest is natural, yet it is counter productive as it inhibits government to perform its main duty as effectively as possible. Individuals are naturally irrational, greedy, and dangerous, so an effective leadership must be in place to guide the efforts of individuals towards the more constructive common goal of survival.

Phyharan wrote of the power of the common people, and how if they were dissatisfied with their leadership they would likely overthrow it by violent rebellion. Phyharan compares the public to a garden with a weed problem. The weeds continuously sprout, stealing resources from the plants the gardener intends to grow, eventually overwhelming the garden and destroying it. It its not the fault of the weeds as it is only following its nature. However, the weeds natural actions need to be actively suppressed in order to ensure the long term success of the garden. It is the nature of the public to be chaotic and wear down the society around it. Much like the weeds, the public must be inhibited in its ability to cause chaos which would end the monarchy. To prevent the overthrow of the monarchy, it must provide a well being and legitimacy to its subjects to keep them from replacing the monarchy with a less stable government. A monarchy that is overthrown becomes a failed monarchy. Failed monarchy is to be avoided at all costs, but once it occurs, widespread death is unavoidable. The public will try to form a system opposite of the failed monarchy, and it will inevitably lack the core leadership necessary to direct the public and help them protect themselves from danger. A public-run government will be left to be torn apart from the inside by its aimless individuals, preyed upon by outside hostilities, or both, resulting in the deaths of everyone of the failed monarchy.

If becoming a failed monarchy is in the imminent future of a monarchy and positive corrections which appease the public cannot be made, negative corrections may be put in place to prevent the monarchy from failing. The suppression of dissent and vast restrictions on the public's personal freedoms may be necessary in this circumstance. The least invasive methods possible should be employed initially, but increasing the severity to match the situation until the threat of monarchy collapse has passed is permissible. Ultimately, the loss of some members of the public is worth the survival of the monarchy as its entire population would perish otherwise.