Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tharkan 01-04-08, 04:53 PM	Those of you who are but the slightest bit familiar with Breland, are well aware of the complexity and entanglement of this nation's domestic affairs. I recurrently find myself reading the Brelish 'Government and Politics' section in my ECS as I attempt to get an applicable picture of how the nation is run, and more importantly, who. Now, I don't find the political structure too hard to grasp, but rather its associates, which leads me to the crux of the problem: who would make a believable politician in Breland? Yes, I know, the nobles and royals, but who, exactly, are they? I know that several of the sourcebooks describe and particularize several NPCs, but has anyone here ever made a complete breakdown of Breland's political heirarchy? Seeing as how I'm about to run a game with political intrigue as a central element, it'd be nice with some names, or at least some suggestions or ideas as to how to plausibly come up with names (people); or just how to best handle a such task as a DM. Thanks in advance. - Tharkan
OctaviusIII 01-04-08, 09:08 PM	Well, the best place to look for imperial intrigue is Byzantine history. It gives you a great idea of what power can do to people and what lengths an ordinarily good person will go to achieve it, or how good an emperor can be despite having come to power through murder. But Breland is a constitutional monarchy that has apparently had a surprisingly stable line of succession for centuries, so you'd have to make the actual murder into simply political murder. Things like assasination are probably seen as beneath 'civilized' folk, even by the erstwhile prime minister Rurik ir'Clarn. A great, great resource might be a political biography of a prime minister like Lester B. Pearson or Stephen Harper. Another would be a history of the English parliament before the throne was shorn of most of its power. If you're wondering about political structure, I can't give you canon. What I can give you is speculation, which is exactly what I'll do. It seems as though the parliament has very little executive power of its own, and its most powerful figure is probably the Speaker of the House. There may be the possibility of being appointed a minister of this or that by the King, which would truly be the highest office for a parliamentarian. (After all, then they would get that 'honorable' in front of their name.) Parliamentary committees, if they exist, are probably investigatory bodies that submit reports and review legislation, like they do in real-world parliaments. Chair of a committee is probably the next-highest position for a member of parliament. Under that would be the lowly back-bencher that seeks to serve the interests of his or her constituents, whether a noble house or a village district.