Government

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Government Systems

Main Article: Government Systems

There are six different government systems in BattleMaster:

  • Monarchy - A partially centralized government with varying degrees of power between the King/Queen, their council, and the other nobility.
  • Tyranny - A centralized government that generally sees much power granted to their Ruler, be they called Tyrant, Dictator, or etc.
  • Republic - Less centralized than the former two but more centralized than a Democracy. Generally a collection of Dukes and/or Region Lords, could be called Senators or Governors, have considerable power in the affairs of the realm.
  • Democracy - The least centralized government but it is unlike what the modern world thinks of Democracy. In BattleMaster a Democracy finds the power generally granted to all the high nobility in the realm, this includes the Knights just as much as the Lords.
  • Theocracy - One of the most variable government systems, Theocracies can be very similar to all four of the previous systems. The primary difference here is that a religion is truly the driving factor of the Theocracy. Theocracies will be directly tied to a faith.
  • Anarchy - This is not really a Government System. Rather, Anarchy is the collapsing of the conventional government systems previously explained.

Government Positions

Main Article: Government Positions

There are four government positions: Ruler, Judge, General, and Banker. These four make up the realm's council with each member specializing in management of a single area of the realm. Rulers primarily focus on diplomacy; Judges on legal issues; Generals on the military; and Bankers on the economy. All members of the realm's council are expected to read the Government Rules and adhere to them. The realm council is chosen in two different ways: election and appointment by the ruler. Which of these is used varies on a realm by realm basis and you can find out which one is used in your realm by going to the information menu and clicking on the link in the local information column titled: "Realm Government". No matter whether an election or appointment is used, the requirements remain the same, a candidate must have at least: 20 honour and 10 prestige. Members of the council can lose their positions in the following ways: losing an election, inactivity, being wounded for 5 days, realm protest, and through punishment from the Titans for breaking the rules.

Elections

Main Article: Elections

Hierarchy

Main Article: Hierarchy

Diplomacy

Main Article: Diplomacy

Treaties

Further information: Treaties

Treaties are arbitrary, free-form agreements between one or more realms. Yes, a realm can sign a treaty with itself, and there are quite a few creative uses for such a treaty, from a (secret) declaration of war to internal politics. Treaties do not have game-mechanic effects. That also means that their potential is unlimited, anything that can be put into words can be put into a treaty.

Protest

Main article: Protest.

A protest is a formal message of disagreement with the actions of the ruling council (ruler, general, judge or banker) of your realm. To protest is sometimes the only option of dealing with someone abusing his or her powers, short of leaving the realm. More importantly, however, it makes your voice heard in a way that can not be easily ignored, for it can carry serious consequences - if many members of the realm protest, the abusive character might even be removed from the position he or she abused.

You can protest at any time using the "Post a protest message..." link provided on the Messages screen. Certain events, such as the appointment of lords or council members, will also provide a specific link for posting a protest. There is no difference between the two methods, the link below some events is just for convenience.

Note: To prevent certain abuses, new characters, and characters new to their realm, cannot immediately post protest messages. There is a waiting period of several days before the option is available to them.

Each protest message is specifically targeted at one specific government member. If you wish to protest multiple government offices, then you must post multiple protests, one for each.

Types of Protest

Protest messages can be either private ("Silently disagree with") or public ("Protest publicly against").

  • A Private protest is the equivalent of talking to friends only, in the hope that the word will spread. Due to the "underground" nature of private protests, they have a lesser effect than public protests. It will take more of them for any effects to be noticed. No one will be notified of the protests. If you wish certain people to know that you protested, and inspire them to silently protest as well, then you will need to inform them yourself.
  • A Public protest is speaking aloud, which will be more effective but might be dangerous in a repressive realm. Your protest message will be sent to all the nobles of the realm, including the reason you have given for your protest. There is no protection against reprisals, other than the political power and influence you wield. Public protests have a greater effect than private protests. All the nobles will see it, and it may inspire them to protest as well. Also, it takes fewer public protests to have a tangible effect on the protester than private protests.

Effects

If enough protests are posted against a government official within a certain amount of time, there can be tangible consequences for that noble.

  • If enough protests are posted, the target will lose honor and prestige. The exact number of protests depends on several factors. The exact details are not known, but are believed to be related to the number of nobles in the realm, and the government system of the realm.
  • If the protests continue, and involve a large enough portion of the realm, the target will be forced out of the office in disgrace, with a significant loss of prestige. A new noble will be chosen either through an election or appointment, according to the government system in place.

Rebellion

Secession

Any Duke that has a city within their duchy, and 15 or more nobles in their duchy, can announce the creation of a new realm and proclaim themselves its ruler. In order to secede a duke must be in a city within their duchy, although they can choose any of their cities as capital of the new realm. When a duke secedes, all of the regions of their duchy will join the new realm along with all its knights and standing militia. It is possible for dukes to secede even if their duchy contains the capital city of their current realm. However, if that city is the only remaining city region within the realm a duke will not be able announce a secession. Although margraves command city regions, they cannot secede from the realm unless they have also been appointed duke.

Estate

Main article: Estates

An estate is a part of a region, currently defined abstractly as a percentage part of the region (e.g. 20% of the region of Keplerville). Everyone can have at most one estate, and the size of estates is limited. There are minimum and maximum sizes that depend on the region type and size. The minimum sizes go from 5% to 20% while the maximum sizes go from 30% to 50%. So every region will need 2-4 knights (of which the lord can be one) to cover it entirely.

Estates can be created and resized at will by the region lord, but each adjustment takes 1 hour of the lord's time.

Vacant estates (those without a knight) and "wild lands" (parts of the region not assigned to an estate) will collect taxes directly to the region lord, but only at half efficiency, so half of the tax income is lost.