Nosferatus/Greater Melhed
Original declaration
Fellow Melites,
Its important to share some concerns i have with the realm. To my opinion, this realm is stagnated, we seem to float about with any direction from above, our most ambitious 'n dedicated nobles cannot manage to change that either. I have presented changes, ideas, help and suggestions but mostly it doesn't even receive a reply. Now, while i think this all to be true, I do not blame individual nobles for it, i believe in fact that Melhed has great potential because of its nobility among other things. The source of this frustration that i believe many of us share is our very government, the senate did not work and we replaced it with nothing. Now we roam in darkness slowly chocking in silence, almost fading away unnoticed.
If we can conclude that the cause of our stagnation is not due to the lack of dedicated, skilled and experienced nobles but due to the lack of governmental or legal form as a whole(the problem is not that we do not know the law or government structure, there is none as we stepped away from the old law books), then we should, change even overthrow the Republic as it is and start a new. I have shortly studied the old law books with the help of my uncle where after he started working on a new constitutional law. My opinion has been expressed and he will combine our views on how Melhed could function best. We believe two things to be immportant, first of all that our realm and realms rule would be divinely blessed, an ode to the Old Gods and the persistent, direct, honest and rough culture of the North with the highest goal to become a glorious realm, make the gods proud instead of ashamed. Second, that its is clear who is in charge of what and that a single leader with the popularity of the people will guide Melhed to a united goal, we believe that Melhed is of the people but do not believe that rulers should be elected monthly as if buying your monthly grain for your kitchen nor that anyone just has to right to rule. We believe that we should entrust the guidance of this realm in the hands of a true King favored by the gods them selves, who in our opinion have pointed with there various holy signs into the same direction for years. He has rightfully governed our capital duchy for years and led our people and nobility away from darkness into the light of the speakers returning to what makes us Melhed through the culture of the Old gods of the North, he has managed to build the greatest temple of all Beluatera within a record time, guided the common folks of Melhed through the darkness of the last invasion and generously donated a large amount of different kind of fundings to to army in times of need.
It is time to overthrow the current stagnation and reinstate this realm as the Kingdom of Greater Melhed, embracing our possibilities and finally stepping into the light of the future, proudly! Maharshi Duke Yeux, will lead us there abiding the law that we the people of Melhed will write our very self. Disclosed is a draft of Pierres work, he has already covered plenty of issues and i will ask you to criticize it, enhance it or add something to it.
Let me tell you Melites, the Republic is dead, now long live the King! Long live Greater Melhed!
Draft of the first Monarchical Constitution of Greater Melhed
The supreme book of Greater Law obliterates all other existing law books and declares them null and void int he name of the King. The same terms are used to describe social classes and some positions as in the original Republic of Melhed. as you can see here: Melhed/Glossary
(OOC: if someone has the patience to correct some typos, grammar errors and such i'd be grateful.)
1)The realm is ruled by the King per divine right, the ruler of Greater Melhed. He rules over the lands its people and his throne, The King required a set of Heirs to take over the throne after his dead. Not until the King him self steps down, disappears for longer then a week or dies, his next in line Heir will be crowned.
1.1 The King may declare war or sue for peace on his demand, he is however obligated to listen to public opinion for the good of the realm and report the diplomatic changes to the realm before or during the actual declaration. An Alliance can only be signed as a military agreement of cooperation or it is not deemed official. A federation may be signed to solidify friendship with long term allies, but as long as there is no military cooperation, there should be no alliance.
1.2 As supreme divine ruler he may tax the people as he sees fit. To keep the realm safe a min of 15% taxes has to be taxed at all times. the King is obligated to keep at least 75% of the royal taxes saved up in his Treasury, the other 25% will have to pay for all his personal expenses. The King may decide to have his Vicar keep the treasury or use a guild for it.
1.3 The King is obligated to keep the nobility of Melhed regularly informed of the ruler channel communication and diplomacy.
1.4 the King can appoint as many Ambassadors as he wishes, the law demands atleast one Ambassador of Greater Melhed. As Ambassador a noble has the full authority to speak and sign on behalf of the King. However the ambassador has no right to work diplomacy without the Kings notice and approval. The King should underline clearly to the Ambassador his intentions and demands from his ambassador(s).
2)Dukes of the realm are appointed by the King, he legally has to hear the plea of the nobility of that duchy in particular.
2.1 Dukes may tax there lords and appoint there Lords as they see fit. They may also sell or buy food within the Vicars margins freely.
2.2 Regions may change duchy with the approval of the Vicar or the King.
2.3 Duchies have the right to have ducal laws that abide this law book as its superior law.
3)The Melite Royal Senate is composed of all legally appointed members of the Patrician Strata who are elevated to the position of Lord. A legal appointment is as long as the appointed noble is not a pagan.
3.1 The Dukes of Melhed are allowed to hold a vote of Veto against the King's Judgement only in rare cases of emergency. Lords can request there duke to use there Veto if they believe they should.(dukes can veto everything except a King's Pardon, see the end of 2.2). A majority of the Dukes have to Vote a Veto in order for it to be effective, the King always has to obey, or the King can be trialed by the Judge for Tyranny, resulting in the King to be forced to abdicate his Throne and his Heir to take over.
3.2 The senate is the highest legal power, where the senators form the Jury and the Judge holds its final verdict except in case where more then two thirds of the Senators (~66%) vote differently. Anyone can go to court for anything in Greater Melhed, and the Senate is forced by the Preator to make a verdict for every case within 2 weeks time, the Preators responsibility. Dukes can be fined for appointing Senators who never attend to court meetings directly by the Preator. There is always the Kings pardon, he can pardon any convicted fellon, but never a veto against a senators vote or the Preators verdict.
3.3 Changes to the law by addition, subtraction or alteration requires two thirds of all Senators to vote and be in favour of the proposal to pass or the Kings approval.
3.4 All writ of the Senate is unassailable. To oppose the Senate is to oppose the Republic and is a capitol crime. this also counts for the goverment and to an much larger extend the King. Any kind of disrespect or offense on there adress is a serious crime in Greater Melhed. Nobles may object to there judgement with respect and acceptance.
4) The Preator is the supreme judge of the realm and is the only judge of the realm and speaks in the name of the King and appointed in his name. The King is responsible for the Preator to follow his law.
4.1 its the Preators responsibility to fight crime in Greater Melhed, if crime goes unpunished, the King may give a warning, with another Warning the Preator may be asked to leave. The Senate can always request the King to remove the Preator from his position by signing such request by 75% of the Nobility of Melhed, or 66% of the Senate.
4.2 The Preator can call a verdict by its own, but once an issues has been brought to court he will have to abide to senatorial vote(see 3.2). Everyone can bring an issue to the Senate court and its outcome is also leal judgement.
4.3 all verdicts of Justice have to be reported to all realm members of Greater Melhed. A verdict can be made in court only after a senatorial vote see 3.2. However if laws are broken and the Preator is aware of it, he may act on his own, without senatorial aproval in case of clear violation.
4.4 Every noble is free to follow the religion of his choice with the exception of those declared evil by the King, the Preator has to put this on his bulletin. Religious buildings other then those of the Bloodspeakers are banned from Greater Melhed unless the King gives certain exceptions. it is illegal for a Lord to be a pagan resulting in a punishment of the Duke who appointed the pagan lord, if the Pagan lord refuses to step down, he will be the one punished by the Preator.
4.5 Every noble of Greater Melhed has the right to express there opinion respectfully if felt necessary. Public protest of all forms against the government are illegal. Serious objections ought to be petitioned to the King him self. protesting or disobeying orders from your superiors is a capitol crime in greater Melhed.
5) The imperator Is appointed by the King and is in full charge of of the armies of Melhed and its military leadership. His orders can only be overueld by the King hims elf.
5.1 Every Troop leader has to serve an army or face trial for theft and treason. Priests are excluded.
5.2 Marshals Vice Marshals or Members of the War Council are appointed by the Imperator and Armies may only be funded by his aproval or by his own hands.
5.3 The imperator is not allowed to order the following but asked to request so: 1. To loot as terrible as possible, instead of genocide, every troop leader can always choose to plunder instead due to moral objections. 2. What unit type to recruit or class to choose.
5.4 Marshals may act within the given boundaries of the Imperator, where no boundaries are given, the marshal should ask permission to execute his orders.
5.5 The imperator is granted 50 to 75% of the total royal treasury in times of war. If the King declares war he immediately hands min 50% of his treasury.
5.6 during war time, the imperator has to authority to set a minimum income for every or certain troop leaders, this needs to be posted on his bulletin so it is public understanding. The Lords will have to act per his request.
6.0 The Vicar of Melhed (banker), is elected by the Lords of the realm every quarter year and is responsible for protecting the peasants right to food and helping lords manage there region and or export food, the vicar is also a senator, like a local lord and the same rights apply to him. he is thus the only eligible Senator and position in the realm.
6.1 if starvation occurs in a region, the vicar can order the Lord of that region to buy food and also order others to put it for him on the market and for what price. The vicar can also order market transactions in case food is rotting.
6.2 Rotting of food is illegal in Greater Melhed and the responsibility of the Vicar, he can solve it by buying the food him self and personally sell it elsewhere or order lords to buy it off each other. If food is to be found rotting the Preator will punish the Vicar as he sees fit and possibly also the Local lord(s) involved. forcing the realm to eventually sell of its food abroad.
6.3 The Vicar has the authority and duty to set a max and minimum internal market price as well as export or import prices to protect the buyers and sellers from extreme prices. The Vicar should put this on his bulletin, failure can lead to court or even direct punishment by the Preator, he may leave as much room for price difference as possible. If a lord buys food for more or less then the Vicars norm, that lord is breaking the law.
6.4 The minimum normal(with the exception of emergency, like looting where taxes can drop as low as the lord sees fit) local tax rate for regions is by law 10%, the Vicar can set this to a higher value as he sees fit. in most cases all region can handle 18% without need of holding courts regularly.
6.5 In case any region is attacked it is the Local lords responsibility that the least damage as possible is done by minimally executing the following actions: 1. drop tax rate as low as possible. 2. Put almost all or all food on the market. Failing to do this eventually will be considered an act of treason as judged by the Preator.
6.6 Every noble in Greater Melhed has the right to join tournaments at all time, and during Peace time the Vicar is responsible for organizing a Tournament of the Peace every month with the Lords and dukes of the realm. this monthly tournament will be held to honor and celebrate the King, the Vicar and the peace. the actual tournament will be held by the Lord who owns the tournament ground, but the Vicar will make sure these tournaments are held every month. the Minimum price for first place is 200 gold. at the tourney, all melite nobles are free to demand war from there King and at the conclusion of the tournament the King will have to answer there demands by a promise or an explanation of why he will not go to war. Each consecutive tournament will honor the previous winner and announce the tourney to be help in his name after the King and Vicar, who are honored every tournament of the Peace.
6.7 the Vicar has the right to set minimum income rates for troop leaders during peace time, this authority will be handed over to the Imperator during war time.
6.8 every noble troop leader in Greater Melhed has the right to an estate. its the Vicars responsibility that every (new) noble is well integrated in the realm and serves the realm well in return of a decent share. If in court or the Preator notes that the vicars work on this field has been lacking, the vicar may be punished for not following his duty.
7) Commoners are either plebian or proletari, plebians are freemen and proletarians are outlaws. an Outlaw always belongs to the lord of the region where he is born in. Outlaws are not protected by any law, but only by the lord that owes them.
7.1 in case a noble is offended by a proletarian(freemen) he may arrest him with a report of arrest noted to the Preator, without report the freeman is to be released asap. the Preator can then decide upon the punishment. A noble may never punish a freeman as he sees fit, the Feeman is protected by the law of Greater Melhed.
