10.3 THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF LUSTERNIA
There are two categories of major political players in Lusternia: city
and commune. Cities are bastions of civilization where the arts of high
magic are prevalent. Communes, on the other hand, are closely connected to
nature and the forests where low magic holds sway.
Both are ruled, first and foremost, by a ruling council. The council is
made up of the Guildmasters of the city or commune and attain a rank
beyond what is available to all other citizens or commune members. The
names of the ranks are determined by the political system currently in
effect.
While the members of the Ruling Council are the Guildmasters who are
elected through their guilds, there is an ultimate leader of a city or
commune who is chosen through a general election of the entire
population. Because this highest ranking leader must be (in theory)
unbiased towards any guild, he or she cannot hold an elected guild
office (though the leader can be a member of any guild). See ELECTIONS.
The leader of the ruling council then may appoint people to the heads of
seven different ministries. As a system of checks and balances, the
appointed minister must be confirmed by a member of the ruling council.
Each minister then in turn appoints aides. The ministries are:
Ministry of the Ambassador (responsible for newbies)
Ministry of Power (responsible for regulating nexus power)
Ministry of the Treasury (responsible for the working funds of the city)
Ministry of the Steward (responsible for the city coffers)
Ministry of Trade (responsible for trade with villages)
Ministry of the Chancellor (responsible for various internal economics)
Ministry of Cultural Affairs (responsible for events and morale)
Librarian (responsible for the city's library)
Further help on the various ministries may be found under section 10.6
(Ministries).
One of the major responsibilities of a city or commune is to keep the
energy reserves of their nexus of power high. There are power quests
which its members can perform to help replenish the nexus, but one of the
major methods is to influence villages and bring them under their sphere
of control. The command POLITICS will show the current political
breakdown of the land. See also VILLAGE INFLUENCE.
