Administration
Royal authority
The Crown of Alora rules as the sole authority of the Kingdom. The royal family are the greatest living embodiments of Harmony, responsible for guiding the entire nation forward.
In practice, the Crown has long since delegated most of its duties among the clans and a variety of royal agents, and we would recognize the Kingdom as clan feudalism under a sovereign monarchy.
Following Aloran tradition, King Riku focuses on conflict and warfare while the Queen directs domestic affairs such as the wards, clan disputes, and public proclamations.
As the old joke goes: “If you see the Queen, plead your case. If you see the King, run!”
You are most likely to encounter the Crown through its appointed, bureaucratic magistrates. As agents of the Crown, magistrates have tremendous power to order the Kingdom.
The magistrates in turn answer to the Royal Inspectors, elite agents handpicked by the Crown and dispersed through the Kingdom to ensure that both bureaucrats and clans remain honest in all affairs.
This royal authority is enthusiastically supported by the Rose Queens of Flora and the Spirit Guardians of Izu, providing much-needed alliance from both east and west.
While many clans may secretly resent the Crown, all currently bow their knee before the King and Queen.
In public, at least.
Kings and Queens Past
The King’s name is Riku. The Queen’s name is Astra. This has always been so.
No records are kept of their passing or coronation, creating the illusion of unbroken rule for five thousand years.
Errors in the records
There are a few strange discrepancies buried in this or that scroll at the bottom of some ancient monastery. Ancient sketches of the King and Queen that bear near-perfect resemblance to the current Crown. Strange comments in ancient histories like, “The King’s lineage blessing continues to strengthen…” or “The Queen, having chosen Alora to be her instrument…”
Strange, perhaps, but scribes make mistakes. Which is more likely: the over-active imagination of a courtesan or the notion that the Crown has ruled since the time of the Grand Fae?!
Royal succession
King Riku and Queen Astra are young and in good health. They can be expected to rule for many more years.
Should the unthinkable occur, their daughter would ascend the throne. Given Selene’s tender age, the question of a potential regency is a dangerously unsolved question.
Official succession ends with these facts. Multiple powerful clans claim to be related to the royal family; records are poor enough that a half dozen of these claims could be plausible. Should succession become a sudden question, the Kingdom will face the prospect of civil war.
The greatest deterrent to thoughts of seizing the throne? King Riku himself. Kings past warred against the Grand Fae and won; only a fool would underestimate the strength and valor of the current man.
Magistrates and inspectors
To you, the royal family are likely distant names. Their royal pronouncements make no difference for the farmer or the craftsman. For you, the government is synonymous with the local magistrate.
Magistrates are classically trained scholars and graduates of a brutal academic selection process. Each is assigned a district at graduation. This selection is process is ostensibly random and neutral, but the Royal Inspectors find causes of fraud and cheating on a yearly basis. After all, a magistrate is in a prime position to accumulate power and prestige!
These appointments have caused clan wars, and competition for the most prized inner ward districts is literally cut-throat.
Well-aware of the potential for corruption, the Crown spends vast efforts to enforce standards of decorum among the magistrates. Royal Inspectors travel the country, both openly and as civilians, and spy against the magistrates for signs of corruption and dishonesty.
Within the inner wards, a magistrate must act in at least the seeming of good faith lest an Inspector arrive at their door with the morning.
In more outlying areas, however, the magistrates can plant spies to warn them of incoming inspections. The further one travels from the Crown, the less likely an Inspector will appear. In particularly remote regions, some magistrates act more like petty kings. Most are eventually caught, but their replacements may be no better!
Records and taxes
All the most important paperwork is kept in the major cities. For truly critical papers, copies are then distributed across the Kingdom. These papers are often sealed into wax containers and marked with matched seals; the seals are then held by magistrates in different cities (and preferably little reason to collude!)
Lesser settlements are expected to send a yearly report of notable events such as population changes, weather patterns, disasters, monster sightings, and taxes owed.
The accuracy of these reports varies wildly. In fact, corrupt magistrates are more likely to be caught due to irregularities in their paperwork than for their misdeeds!
Clans
The smallest legal unit in the Kingdom is the clan. Lands and grants are given to the clan, not the individual. If you gain the favor of the Crown, your rewards are sent to your clan!
Your clan must have a single appointed head. Age, gender, and profession do not matter. In a small clan, the representative is usually a grandfather or grandmother, retired from active work and trusted to advise the younger generations. In a large clan, the representative must be selected by the clan; the Crown refuses to interfere in this selection process.
If the magistrate requires something, he will send for the clan representative. Common causes: marriage, birth, death; crimes, punishments, or honors; allotments for materials, housing, and land.
All of these responsibilities give the representative tremendous leeway to make your life miserable; many popular dramas revolve around the conflict between young lovers and stern clan representatives.
The clanless
To be clanless is to be adrift in society. The clanless have no legal representation, cannot own property, and cannot receive boons. All manner of abuse awaits the poor souls tossed into this under-class.
In response, the Crown created two systems: adoption and founding.
- Adoption – To join an existing clan by virtue of one’s deeds or potential
- Founding – A band of clanless may found a clan by accomplishing a deed of note
- Common deeds of note: clearing a crystal den for settlement; saving civilians from the dangers of the wilds; contributing to the Kingdom’s knowledge and beauty
When neither of these are possible, the clanless often migrate to the free cities of the outer wards where family names carry no weight.
Fake a clan
Fake it til you make it!
Your clan kicked you out? Never had one? Fake one! Unlikely to work in the capital, sure, but who checks every clan in the borderlands?
In fact, if your fake clan gathers enough prestige and goodwill, you are likely to be quietly approached by an agent of the Crown. In exchange for services, the Crown will recognize your false clan. In fact, some of the most powerful clans in Seln began as administrative fiction!
This is something of an open secret among the clan leaders, but most go along with the act. After all, the first clan to cast aspersions will be the first asked to confirm their own paperwork!