 January 25, 2011 - 4:02am | ...in Clarion, that is. We know it's a capitalist monarchy. The governing body consists of 100 elected parliamentary seats, with 70-80% siding with the Leotine line and the remainders leaning toward the Liberation Party. Aside from the (dis)honorable mention of Streel, that's about all we have to build upon. I propose we enact a D&D Companion Rules/Gazetteer modeled heirarchy comprised of the following (borrowed/adapted but not plagarized). These would be the ruling class titles from which the elected parliament is pooled from: King/Queen - The top ruling class Duke/Duchess - very limited, one per major city (re: 12 total), eligible for kingship via election assuming a king's family line ends Marquis/Marquessa - governs five to ten regions or areas Count/Countess - governs no more than four regions or areas Baron/Baroness - lowest governing rank, often responsible for one to three regions or areas The non-ruling ranks would be: Knight - a title of nobility often bestowed upon (but not limited to) retired and active duty military persons, knights have proven themselves to be 100% loyal to the crown and continue to serve as such, even during retirement Court Lord/Lady - rank of nobility granted to citizens who have acted in the interest of the crown Freeperson - the "common men" regardless of economic status Convict - any citizen, noble or otherwise, reduced to this status for the purpose of government supervised labor (chain gang type road construction, mining, etc) |
 January 31, 2011 - 3:06pm | Two questions: is there really a need for that many gradations of noble? IOW, has the planet been settled long enough to develop that. Second: what did the nobles' ancestors do to earn the titles? Were they the first to settle, were they elected to lead by the settlers, were they all appointed by the Crown, and how did they make that stick? Here's my suggestion: make the nobles (however many there are) earn their titles in each generation. A title can be inherited, of course, but that heir must serve the crown in some capacity, and be judged worthy of the effort. What this should mean is some form of government service by the nobles and their adult children, military/diplomatic/bureaucratic, whatever. After a specified time period (say, no earlier than one's 35th birthday?) the noble can be judged by the King/Queen and if that heir has done well at whatever job(s) they've done, they can then inherit their family title, house, lands, et cetera. Titles can be held vacant by the Crown until someone is qualified to inherit them. Nobles who fail to rise to the needs of the Crown are shuffled off to some not-too-disgraceful status. Heirs who haven't yet achieved their full nobility can still be honored as "The Honorable So-and-So." Maybe there is a "common" (Knight or Baron) level of nobility, but the higher levels (Duke, Count, etc.) are specific positions that are themselves not inherited. Those are like provincial governors, and are always appointed by the Crown, and re-appointed when the current holder dies or retires. In short, full nobility is not quite a retirement, but definitely a reward for a job well done. How corrupt this system may become after less than 400 years of practice, is up for grabs. I suppose this is mainly inspired by Heinlein's Starship Troopers "no vote without conscripted service" but a bit more so. |
January 31, 2011 - 3:37pm | Two questions: is there really a need for that many gradations of noble? Probably not. I merely streamlined the info from the D&D Companion rules (which had eight or nine ranks) when I compiled that list. We could easily dump the Marquis grade and make it four each (ruling class and citizen class). Second: what did the nobles' ancestors do to earn the titles? Were they the first to settle, were they elected to lead by the settlers, were they all appointed by the Crown, and how did they make that stick? All good food for thought. Good suggestions as well, I have no arguement against any of them. |
 January 31, 2011 - 5:30pm | In another sci-fi series a colony expedition left earth by sublight for a charted star system but before leaving earth the colony leaders invested their remaining money and compound interest took its course. during the long voyage to their system effective and safe FTL drives were developed and the fund managers hired crews and ships to meet the colony expedition at their destination with tools and supplies. A few years into the fledgeling colony's history a plague hit wiping out a serious portion leaving the colony below the level of viability. After a cure was found they realized they had to bring in new blood but didn't want to loose control of their colony. So they converted the constitution to be a constitutional monarchy with the president becoming the monarch and the other leaders getting titles based on their initial investments. Then advertised to crouded core systems that anyone who could pay their passage to the monarchy would get valluable tracks of land and become yeoman. People with money and interest could even pay their way and invest more for greater land or even buy a title themselves. The colony also subsidized those who could not pay buying them tickets but these did not get land subsidies they were know as 0 ballancers. There was also a stipulation that the monarch had to marry from the Common populace not the royalty. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 1, 2011 - 10:08am | Jedion, that sounds like Manticore, from D. Weber? In addition to the Dukes ruling the 12 major cities, maybe there should be another title created for Clarion Station? |
February 2, 2011 - 9:24am | Jedion, that sounds like Manticore, from D. Weber? In addition to the Dukes ruling the 12 major cities, maybe there should be another title created for Clarion Station?  I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 2, 2011 - 10:47pm | In addition to the Dukes ruling the 12 major cities, maybe there should be another title created for Clarion Station? I would say Duke David Arconium (of Hiatia) would be the commander that oversees Clarion Station (and consequently the Marines, seeing as they spend their duty time either aboard the station or their assigned craft). David is mentioned on p.4 of the WoWW module, just before the Leo crew. That said, in his absence Duchess (let's make up a female counterpart name here) Arconium would oversee Hiatia (which I would presume to be one of the 12 mega-cities) but only David would be the one serving on parliament. |
February 3, 2011 - 11:06am | That works for me, too. He'd also have control over the station police there. Although, if the noble titles are supposed to go with near-life appointments to Crown positions, then maybe something like this? - Another Duke's title is for commanding the (planetside) Guard - Foreign Minister - maybe a 2nd Foreign one to represent Clarion to the UPF? - Treasurer/Exchecquer - Environment - Communications - Legal (High Judge?) - Head of Parliament? - Transportation (ground, air and orbital?) - Trade (with other worlds) - Orbital stuff, beyond Clarion Station - groundside police (or lump that in with the Guard?) |
February 3, 2011 - 2:36pm | A lot of that works for me as well, only a couple comments on those suggestions: - Head of Parliament? I would think that to be the King (or Queen). Perhaps "Parliamentary Speaker" or other such sub-title? - Orbital stuff, beyond Clarion Station I think that would be lumped in with the Royal Marines - groundside police (or lump that in with the Guard?) Police could be separate, after all there's "station police" and the Royal Marines are expected to respond to assist. The same structure could be implemented on the ground, they have a regular police and the Royal Guard can be expected to assist. |
