The Government of the Triumvirate

The Emperors Will Be Done

The government of the Triumvirate is essentially feudal, but because of the large urban population in Vargo City and the oftentimes difficult legal questions of negotiating between the semi-independent Royal Houses a reasonable level of government complexity has developed.

In most cases in Triumvirate lands, local aristocrats or lords hold fealty directly to the Emperor, but that fealty is actually excersized through a series of local representatives. The most prominent of these is the Triumvirate itself, the instantiation of the Emperor on world, with the 'stand-in' figure being the Protector. The Lord Privy Seal in turn serves as the Protector's delegate, and then potentially local Governors or Lieutenant-Governors, creating a sort of false feudality from local appointed representatives up to the Protector and beyond the Emperor.

In general, the Triumvirate government is insantiated in the person of the various Triumvirs, the Great Officers and other important Triumvirate officers.

LORD PROTECTOR

The Lord Protector is the Emperor's surrogate on Vargo, and has (in theory) largely absolute noble authority over Triumvirate lands as well as Imperial jurisdiction over the rest of the Known Worlders. As a practical matter, the majority of the Protector's powers are devolved to the Lord Privy Seal, the other Great Officers and the Council of Keys.

The remaining authority the Protector routinely exercises is the appointment of Great Officers and other high officers of the Triumvirate and the veto of important, Triumvirate-affecting decisions by the Great Officers. The Protector also is the arbiter of the Triumvirate court - not in the sense of the court of law, but the political court. In Alvaro's day, the great nobles of the planet concentrated in the Hazat compound, where the Duke typically resided, but since Iskander's ascension the court has been at the Serai es-Fanar of Tuscanice. The offices of the Lord Privy Seal and the other Great Officers except the High Justice and Constable are also at the Serai, where the Lord Privy Seal's Treasury serves as the feudal center of Vargo.

CHANCELLOR

The Chancellor, as the leading guilder, is responsible for trade and commerce on Vargo, as well as the civil bureaucracy of the planet - chiefly in the form of tax collectors, paymasters and the like. The payroll and budget of the Triumvirate are the Chancellor's particular responsibility, as is trade policy for the Agora of Vargo and other planetary markets. The Chancellor is further the keeper of the Great Seal of the Triumvirate, which is required to legally ratify important decrees.

PRIMATE

The office of Primate of Vargo has been empty for some time, and there has always been some debate over its authority - the Orthodoxy preferring that the statutory powers of the Primate instead be instantiated in an Archbishop. The executive power of the Primate is largely limited to the administration of the Church and Church Courts, but the Primate has censors attached to most every Triumvirate office to ensure that acts are legitimate and inform the Primate if a primatial veto may be required. The Primate is also explicitly responsible for the physical health of the Triumvirate's people in addition to its spiritual well-being.

GREAT OFFICERS

LORD PRIVY SEAL

If the Lord Protector is the Imperial surrogate on Vargo, the Lord Privy Seal is his prime minister. The day-to-day administration of Vargo is run jointly by the Lord Privy Seal and the Chancellor from the Privy Seal's Treasury of the Right Hand in the Serai. When Duke Alvaro reigned, the Privy Seal was most like Alvaro's Interior Minister, who operated in a similar fashion but out of the municipal palace.

The Lord Privy Seal supervises the various governors of Triumvirate provinces as well as those lords directly responsible to the Triumvirate. He is also responsible for liasing with the chartered governments of the cities under Triumvirate control - Seren, Siolta, Kenealy, Talas, Joppa, Hebu, Truk and Vargo City itself - though in the cases of the Neuvaire and Sheva cities, this is often mediated by local Governors and Vargo City has a degree of independence under its Tribune. Formally, however, it is the Lord Privy Seal to whom the chartered cities answer, not local governors.

The Privy Seal's office comes from the seal he is the keeper of - literally, the Protector's Privy Seal - which is used to seal most decrees in the Protector's name. This gives the Privy Seal broad authority to legislate on his own, an authority increased by his status as leader of the Council of Keys. Most decrees of the Keys are sealed by the Privy Seal.

Finally, the Lord Privy Seal - in addition to his offices and bureaucrats - has a series of lieutenants that act as roving ombudsmen and representatives. Formally, these are Protector's Lieutenants, but they are typically called Lords-Lieutenant and are usually appointed by the Privy Seal. They have a wide-ranging power to issue relief in the case of injustice, but such injunction needs to be swiftly backed up by the Privy Seal, Protector or Council of Keys or else it expires. Several other odd Triumvirate officials also report to the Lord Privy Seal, including the Privy Coroner and Coroner of the Verge, the Inspector of the Watergate and others.

While the Lord Privy Seal, Devante Castillo of the Hazat, has an office in the Serai es Fanar, he rarely uses it. Instead, he uses an office in the municipal palace or his own Hazat compound in Vargo City.

LORD HIGH JUSTICE

The chief magistrate of Vargo is the Lord High Justice, who is responsible for ordering and supervising the courts of the Triumvirate and presiding over trials in the Council of Keys. The offices and court of the High Justice remain in the Municipal Palace of Vargo City, and the High Justice is one of the few great officers that still directly impacts Vargo City's life through his courts.

The court system, in general, tries freemen, guilders and low nobles - knights and some baronets - though nobility are entitled to more protections in court than than freemen. Occasionally, serfs end up in Triumvirate courts, but they are far more usually disciplined by their master. The High Justice himself tries very few cases; instead, most cases are tried by magistrates. In the city, those magistrates are largely paid members of the Reeves' Guild; elsewhere, they are lay magistrates appointed by the High Justice from wealthy local landowners or aristocrats. Provincial governors and lieutenants-governor are high magistrates in their provinces, and have the traditional right of appointing the lay magistrates within their territory. City magistrates in Vargo City are usually hired directly by the High Justice's office, while Reeve magistrates in Seren, Siolta and Kenealy are hired by the local burghers who hold the city charters.

The Lord High Justice has traditionally had a small force of bailiffs to keep order and run errands. During Lord Caius' tenure, these bailiffs were named lictors and greatly expanded. Since Lord Euan became High Justice, the name 'lictor' has remained, but the numbers have shrunk to pre-Catonian figures.

LORD MARSHAL

The Lord Marshal of the Triumvirate is commander of the armies and navies of the Triumvirate, second only to the Protector as commander-in-chief. The Lord Marshal directly supervises Triumvirate forces, appointing and promoting officers, and is also responsible for the overall command of musters called of Known Worlders. The Lord Marshal appoints generals and lesser commanders for such combined forces, though this is a very political process in which the Protector and Privy Seal are usually involved.

The Lord Marshal is additionally responsible for the government of Fort Paloma - the Commandant of Fort Paloma is also military governor of the Triumvirate territory surrounding - and can declare martial law on her own authority in Triumvirate territories. Triumvirate militia reports to the Lord Marshal, but the local colonels-in-chief of militia regiments tend to be provincial governors.

LORD EXTERN

Some say that the Lord Extern is the least powerful of the Great Officers. Certainly, the Extern's Office is the smallest, but the Extern's responsibility for serving as a diplomat and negotiator with the other powers on Vargo is crucial. The last several Lord Externs have been relatively low key, but strong arguments exist for the Lord Extern's office to take a role in the internal government of the Triumvirate, representing native Vargen aristocrats and landholders as well as serving as a mediator and negotiator among Houses, Guilds and the Church.

The Lord Extern also enjoys the privileges of being a Great Officer, including the ability to speak uninterrupted in the Council of Keys - allowing him to filibuster - a stipend, the ability to hire deputies and the like.

LORD CONSTABLE

The Lord Constable is the Great Officer responsible for law and order within the Triumvirate. Formerly, the Lord Constable was called the Lictor, the noble commander of the VCG, but the institution of the Tribune has stepped in as a step between the Constable and VCG proper.

Law and order is generally devolved to the local governor who appoints a constabulary or - in most cases - uses the local militia to keep order. As a consequence of the militia's role as lawmen, the Constable has the authority to call up the Triumvirate militia when needed to maintain order. The chartered cities handle their own law and order, but are subject to oversight by the Lord Constable who, if needed, can revoke the right of self-policing.

The Lord Constable is also responsible for the forests of the Triumvirate - the Triumvirate's game wardens report to the Constable, as does the Chief Forester and any other foresters appointed. Interestingly, the foresters have their own courts, subject to the authority of the Lord Constable rather than the Lord High Justice.

In addition to chartered constabularies like the VCG, the Constable can also appoint Lords Deputy and Sergeants-at-Arms as direct assistants. If paid at all, however, these deputies are paid out of the Constable's pocket.

OTHER OFFICES

REGENS ORIENTALIS

A relatively new office created by the Lord Protector Iskander, the Regens Orientalis or the East Regency is an intentionally ambiguous office that is either bounded by the Lord Marshall and the Lord Privy Seal, or the effective second-in-power of the eastern half of the Triumvirate. With broad authority over Sheva Province and the theoretical ability to interfere in Hawkwood administration of Okar and Taramor, the true nature of this office is still in question.

The limited mandate wielded by the reigning Regens Orientalis, Baron Caius Cato Hawkwood, seems to have taken upon the latter interpretation of the position, wielding significant authority over Sheva Province in a manner that is far more extensive than the Lord Privy Seal's authority over Neauvaire Province. The full manifestation of his actual authority has yet to be seen, pending the Inaugural Court of the East Regency.

Several offices exist in regards to the Regens Orientalis, including his old offices in Kenealy. The East Regent has begun to invest more time in expanding his Court's presence in Joppa.

GOVERNORS-GENERAL/GOVERNORS

Neuvaire is ruled by a Governor-General, who acts as the Protector's deputy for the region as well as the regional deputy for all the Great Officers. The Governor-General commands the militia, appoints magistrates, receives fealty from local lords, supervises the Lieutenants-Governor in the region, provides for public order and negotiates regional agreements. The Governor-General is ultimately responsible to the Lord Privy Seal for the proper order of the province, and can be removed for maladministration if law and order falls apart, taxes don't flow or the province otherwise suffers.

In some cases, the post of Governor-General is left empty, and a Governor is instead appointed. This post is identical to that of Governor-General in all ways, except that the Governor does not hold a militia command. Both governors-general and governors have broad powers to appoint local officials, including tax assessors, military purveyors, local magistrates and constables and the like, posts which are used to reward political supporters. They also are given the privy purse of the region to manage, and are expected to provide for themselves out of such monies, which turns into a de facto license to spend provincial profits as they will.

LIEUTENANTS-GOVERNOR

Smaller cities have a Lieutenant-Governor, principally the Lieutenants-Governor of Siolta and Kenealy. These are regional governors, subordinate to the main governor in Seren, who perform the same functions on a local level. Interestingly, the cities themselves aren't directly governed - they have chartered councils of burghers - but the Lieutenant-Governor provides over those chartered councils and has a great deal of authority. Most importantly, these Lieutenants-Governors receive the rights of appointment and the profits of their territories in the same fashion as does the main Governor-General.

TRIBUNE OF VARGO CITY

The Tribune of Vargo City is a new post, in some ways akin to a city governor. Previously, Vargo City was directly governed by the Protector, with no chartered city government of any sort. While High Justice, Lord Caius established a Council of Praetors as a chartered city government which ended that period of direct rule. Upon his return, Lord Iskander appointed a Tribune to chair that council and veto its actions as required.

Essentially, the Tribune's powers are identical to that of a regional governor, though he does not have influence over the local courts. He serves as Colonel-in-Chief of the city's militia regiment, supervises the VCG and - through the Council of Praetors - manages the civic government of the city. The Tribune is based out of the Municipal Palace; he has no formal office of his own, instead having a desk in the Praetors' offices.

MILITARY GOVERNORS

The Commandant of Fort Paloma serves as military governor of the surrounding lands, and it is widely expected that the Lady Marshal or one of her subordinates will similarly be appointed Military Governor of Joppa or the entire Sheva Valley. A province under military governorship is much like any other, save that the lines of control are much more absolute. Military officers serve in most civic positions, even as magistrates, and when non-military personnel are brought in they are subject to military oversight.

The court system is not supervised by the Lord High Justice, nor is the constabulary answerable to the Lord Constable - though as a practical matter in Fort Paloma, many crimes are referred to a special court set up by the Lord High Justice for the area if the officer in charge of the case doesn't deem it to be militarily significant. Similarly, many expect that when a new Lord Constable is appointed, he may be asked to assist in keeping the peace in turbulent Sheva.

Other

Military Decorations of the Triumvirate