Chénier Family/Machiavel/Libris Tyrannis

(Work in Progress)

A book which is being written by Machiavel Chénier, a compilation about power, how to acquire it, conserve it, and augment it. It has not yet been published.

Introduction

While despotism accomplishes great things illegally, liberty doesn't even go to the trouble of accomplishing small things legally. [Balzac]

So, you are interested in tyranny? You lust for power? Order? Think the world is way too liberal, giving away too many rights, being to permissive? Well, odds are, you are right, but you don't know what to do about it, or how to do it. The tyranny, the blessed rule from above, as manifested by our feudal rights. These are my reflections about power: how to acquire it, conserve it, and augment it. After all, power is a goal in itself, and many are those who seek power for the sake of power.

There are a few things one should keep in mind when reading this work. The first is that the term "tyranny" is used to describe any authoritarian government, no matter how it operates or calls itself. The second is that this work is mostly addressed to rulers, or aspirant rulers, though there is doubt interesting insights for judges especially, and perhaps a few others. Finally, just a general tip: it's easier to oppress people when you convince them you aren't doing any oppression at all, citing this book probably won't get you far in your realm.

Repartition of Power

A despot always has his good moments; an assembly of despots never. [Voltaire]

Who wields the power in your realm? The ruler, of course, but who else? The council members doesn't even need to have any power at all, there has been examples in the past where they would all simply relay their Emperor's orders. There are also realms in which power is divided into a few trusted hands, or as many hands as possible, and this can be just as authoritarian.

Autocratic

Everyone's dream, a total power trip. Or is it? This has as many disadvantages as advantages. So let's start with the positive sides, shall we?

• Pros:
  • Fun: Seriously, it is fun to rule with an iron fist. And really, this is more important than it sounds for the stability of a government. If the ruler bores himself, he won't be bothered to do a really good job now, will he?
  • Security: This is also particularly useful for small or "politically incorrect" realms, such as those who consort with daimons. Why? Secrecy, really. If you're the only one in charge, you don't need to share your dealings, and so leaks and espionage are reduced. In small realms, its also harder to start spreading the power, as it tends to put people on a more egalitarian footing, which most likely wasn't your goal, as well as the added chance of giving out too much power to a mole.
  • Speed:
• Cons:
  • Work: Let's be honest with ourselves here, if you're going to monopolize power, it better be because you are ready to do everyone's work, otherwise you'll make a poor leader and have a rebellion on your hand before long.
  • Envy: Ever heard of the roman emperors? They were powerful, weren't they? Didn't live all too long, though... one of these years, four of them were killed or ended their lives themselves, not quite a model now, are they?
  • Restlessness: Along the same lines as envy, this type of rule makes your nobles restless. Why? Because they've got nothing to do, and odds are you can't give away enough illusionary titles to keep them all satisfied. There are multiple ways to combat this, though, such as with a strong culture, organized activities, or war (which has its own problems, and which of course, you must win, otherwise you are worst off than you started).
  • Vulnerability: There is another additional problem: centralized power means that the order is easier to disrupt. After all, if you get captured or wounded, the realm is paralysed.
  • Succession: And should you lose your titles at the same time, who knows what your successor will do?

Oligarchic

A powerful council, sharing of power, accountability, ah, notions of those liberal republics, nay? Well, truth be told, a council for the people differs very little from a council against the people, and having much less restrictions, the later sees many more opportunities. With little modification, the tools of liberty and equality can be made into fearsome tools of oppression. And if you are leading a group of family or personal friends, this might just be the natural path.

• Pros:
  • Mockery: This could be described in many ways, but what do I mean by this "mockery"? Quite simply, it is the usage of liberal notions for your own authoritarian agenda, and this can be done for multiple reasons. First, let's go with the one the title states: psychological warfare. Simply put, you use your liberal foes' terminology and systems again them, posing yourself as the very thing they prone, while practising the opposite. The facets of this aspect are many, but will be described in the section concerning the Form of Power.
  • Delegation: Want something done but can't be bothered to go through all the steps yourself? Have someone else to overlook the mission for you. After all, you don't care how it's done, you just want to know that its done and what the results are. While in smaller realms you could handle doing things by yourself, this just proves to be too much work the moment it grows but a bit, or whenever your time and energy becomes limited.
  • Satisfaction: Whose easier to bribe between the duke with a fat cheque and lots of privilege and a powerless duke with nothing in his name? That depends on you view, I guess, as giving the duke a fat cheque and privileges is a form of bribery itself, but then again, who cares if its your favour? Point being, real power and wealth gives more satisfaction than fake titles of no importance, and the more important someone is in the realm, the less likely he will be to want to risk it. Having a voice is also very important: many nobles don't care for wealth of official power, they just want to be heard, isn't that such an easy way of gaining their loyalty? Not only are they less likely to betray you, but the less powers you give yourself (officially), the less they will actually want to hold your throne. If you manage to make the rulership appear much weaker to the council, you'll have them believe that to be ruler would only mean they'd become a dummy with no power, but who takes all the blame. And really, as long as you have others do stuff for you, why do you need the power to do it yourself?
  • Stability: To stab an autocrat means that the whole executive apparatus is paralysed, while the same in an oligarchy couldn't be father from the truth. If nothing else, something happening to one of the oligarchs will motivate the others to perform more. Sure, some plans will suffer a bit from the interference, but its much easier to simply assign the oligarchs' tasks to another, and keep working as if nothing had happened. If the missing oligarch was you, the ruler, and if you lost your titles, you are this much closer to getting it back, as less people are likely to want to replace you (a note should be taken in favour of the autocracy here, though: if you lose your titles, absolute power will make people more afraid of putting in power someone they have never seen as ruler. That only works if they don't trust anyone else, though). Decentralizing power also means that things keep going, despite what happens to the oligarchs. By having similar-minded nobles replace retiring oligarchs, the system can restore itself for a very long time, and radical reforms due to a change of leadership are much less likely, and much harder to attempt.
  • Personal involvement: Writing the rest of my text, I thought of something, but I can't recall...
  • Scapegoats:
  • Red Tape:
• Cons:
  • Councillors: Who do you pick, how, why? (more to come)

Form of Power

When there are decisions to be made, new laws to be established, how are they made official? Does one declare it so, or does a group while carefully respecting established norms?

Institutionalized

(draft removed from other section for later modifications: Written laws and constitutions can actually be quite helpful to you: but ignoring those who are troublesome and enforcing the correct ones, you can even get the document's defenders to stand down or neutralize themselves. With such selective application applied to common law, and cunning interpretation (most of these texts hold many flaws, which the system proves too lofty to fix on the long run), you can usually find small insignificant things to isolate and rid yourself of foes, all while remaining in there "legality".)

Application of Power

Wether you operate by decree or by institution, how do you decide who gets the power, how much power they get? What kind of councils can you have and what are their functions? Who'se in charge of the justice, and why?

Organization

How is progress organized in the realm? Could be everyone out for himself, doing either what he feels best for realm or himself, could be a group of powerful nobles who chose how the others will act, it could follow a pre-established plan, or it could quite simply all be directed by the top of the hierarchy.

Religions

Religion is a very important aspect of life, and it can not be ignored. It also shouldn't be treated the same in all realms. Depending on many factors, the ways to handle it work differently.

Culture

How do your realm members identify themselves? What identity to they rally themselves to? What exactly does it mean, being a member of your realm?

Government Systems

What are the pros and cons of the various "standard" government systems?