River-Kingdoms-Government

Government in the River Kingdoms

Each of the tiny River Kingdoms follows its own ruler or council, and each possesses its own idiosyncrasies. Most are city-states of a few thousand souls at most. The River Kingdoms are bound together by the River Freedoms and by the Outlaw Council, a group that gathers each year in Daggermark, a town known for its effective assassins’ and poisoners’ guilds (and thus rarely a target of conquest). At the Outlaw Council, rulers of the region’s various holdings gather to argue, fight, and plan how to keep their freedom for another year against the larger forces arrayed against them. The Riverfolk would be offended at the very idea that their lands have a prime city or ruling principality, although if pressed they might confess that Daggermark comes closest. Others might argue that Gralton is the most central city, or Sevenarches the oldest, but Daggermark is the largest and has long served as the seat of the Outlaw Council.

Nearly every type of government imaginable has been attempted within the River Kingdoms, and will likely be attempted again. Below is a list of the most common government types that appear in the River Kingdoms. Government types can be mixed, such as an ethnocratic oligarchy. Types include

• Anarchy: The complete absence of organized government. This state exists intermittently throughout the River Kingdoms, but sustaining it as a form of actual policy is exceptionally difficult. Formal government: Daggermark
• Aristocracy: Rule by a hereditary class of people. Usually subsumed under a monarchy. Formal government: Artume, Gralton
• Autocracy:
  Government in which one person has sole, unrestricted rule. Also known as despotism. The majority of River Kingdoms are ruled by autocrats. Bureaucracy: Rule through a system of departments or bureaus, arranged in a hierarchy of authority. Department heads and staff are usually appointed rather than elected or openly decided. Formal government: Pitax
• Confederacy: Rule under a union of states, organizations, or individuals. Formal government: Lambreth
• Democracy: Majority rule by the people. Rulers are elected from among the populace. Formal government: Uringen, Outsea
• Dictatorship: Although a form of autocracy, a dictator has no plans or aspirations for hereditary rule. Formal government: Lambreth, Touvette, Tymon, Liberthane
• Ethnocracy: Government in which rulership is limited to those of a particular ethnicity or race.
• Feudality: A loosely defined form of government consisting of binding agreements between lords and vassals. The River Freedoms make traditional concepts of feudalism difficult to sustain, but versions of this agreement frequently crop up in unstable regions.
• Gerontocracy: Rule determined by the eldest—usually a group of elders, rather than the single oldest person.
• Gynarchy: Explicit rule by females. See “matriarchy.”
• Kleptocracy Rule by thieves; a system of governance where its officials and the ruling class in general pursue personal wealth and political power at the expense of the wider population. In strict terms kleptocracy is not a form of government but a characteristic of a government engaged in such behavior. Informal government: Pitax
• Kritocracy/Kritarchy: Rule by judges. The former is rule by a judge’s personal opinion, whereas the latter is rule by comparison to an external standard, such as “natural rights.”
• Magocracy: Rule by secular magical authority, usually a single wizard or sorcerer. Informal government: Sevenarches
• Matriarchy: Rule by a mother figure, within a familial social system.
• Meritocracy: Government by those who demonstrate talent or ability in a certain position. Formal government: Mivon
• Militocracy: System of rule where the military holds full authority (another River Kingdoms favorite). Formal government: Liberthane, Touvette
• Monarchy: Government where supreme authority is held by one hereditary ruler, typically referred to as a king or queen. Many River Kingdom autocrats declare themselves monarchs. Formal government: Artume
• Noocracy: Government by the wise, the learned or the scholarly.
• Ochlocracy: Rule by a mob with no formal authority.
• Oligarchy: Rule by an elite few. Formal government: Cordelon, Gralton, Sevenarches
• Patriarchy: Rule by a single father figure, within a familial social system.
• Plutocracy: Rulership by the rich. Although the wealthy always have power over government, plutocracy is explicit, literal rule by the wealthiest.
• Republic: A form of government where the people ruled can indirectly affect the government through representatives. Formal government: Outsea, Protectorate of the Black Marquis
• Syndicracy: Rule by a business group.
• Theocracy: Though technically meaning direct rule by a deity, theocracy is often defined as rule by clergy who act on a deity’s dictates. Also known as a hierocracy or emirate. Formal government: Riverton, Sevenarches

Within the River Kingdoms, “kingdom” is considered acceptable shorthand when referring to an autonomous state, and “lord” is the generic term of address for a ruler, regardless of a ruler’s form of government or sex