Government institutions and organizations in the small central Aporuean country and state of Melza.
To bring everything together neatly and not piecemeal, here's a full
overview of the government of this central Aporuean statelet, a small
country in the Orbis Fūrum.
A purpose-built government complex in the heart of the Old Town serves
as the headquarters for both municipal and national governance in Melza.
This compound is known as The Houses of Rule. It lies on a slightly
elevated knoll with a fairly expansive flat top, offering plentiful
space for the various buildings and wings. The knoll has mostly steep
slopes, some of them covered in rocky cliffs, and to add to this natural
defence, the perimeter of the hill top is fortified with stone walls.
They aren't particularly high or thick, but are meant to offer some
degree of defence in case of a foreign invasion, a large-scale epidemic,
or mass street riots and fighting. The compound thus forms something of
a small urban castle. Inside the walls stand City Hall, the Assembly
Wing, the Ministries Wing, the Watch Wing, the Relief Wing, and several
other service buildings.
EXECUTIVE POWER
The government and its highest-ranking officials itself.
1.) The Four Lords (a.k.a. “The Four Pillars”)
Lord Mayor - Elected civilian co-ruler of the city state,
head of the municipal government (and its law enforcement). Colloquially
“the Mayor”. The current Lord Mayor of Melza is Latnan Oktimk, a bigfolk male.
Lord Baron - Reigning, hereditary co-ruler of the city
state, head of the Barony (the local monarchy/dynasty). Colloquially
“the Baron”. The current Lord Baron of Melza is Dortan IV of House Terlo, a bigfolk male. (For a list of past rulers, click here.)
Lord Commander - Elected commander-in-chief of the city state's armed forces. The current Lord Commander of Melza is Unis Harelah, a rarach smallfolk male.
Lord Spiritual - Elected representative and spokesperson
of the city's religious and ideological groups/factions. The current
Lord Spiritual of Melza is Relan Avakala, a martenfolk male.
(Note: In case of a female holder of the title, the title would be
adjusted accordingly to “Lady” or “Dame”, depending on the particular
role. In the case of the ruling noble, it would be “Lady Baroness”, for
the religious representative "Lady Spiritual", and for the mayor and
commander, "Dame Mayor and "Dame Commander". In Melzan society, a woman
being elected as the commander is the least likely.)
2.) The Municipal Ministers
The Ministers are the the right-hand men and women of the Four Lords.
Each Minister is the head of a Ministry, one of the branches of the
executive government. The branches carry responsibility for various
basic spheres of governance within Melza's borders, such as justice,
economy, transport, culture, schooling, religion, law enforcement,
military, sewage and garbage services, emergency response services, and
so on…
3.) Country Mayors
In addition to Melza's Lord Mayor, each of the nine inhabited
settlements in the rural part of the Barony has its own local mayor.
These are referred to as “Country Mayors”. Two of the mayors govern
township municipalities (the old mining town of Árast Atrav in the
mountains, and the local spa town Enemarp), while the remaining seven
mayors administer the seven village municipalities of the Barony
(Ynivork, Rátoch, Ňolbaj, Jáh, Ones, Étilaks, Koraj).
4.) Civil Servants
These are simply the various bureaucrats and employees that work for the
executive part of the Melzan government. Even the most higher-up civil
servants working in The Houses of Rule, such as the mayor's personal
chancellor Púrst Tarandar, are effectively glorified office staff and
assistants to the Four Lords and the Ministers.
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LEGISLATIVE POWER
The City Assembly - The Assembly is both the municipal and national
parliament of Melza. It convenes on a regular basis in the chambers and
Council Hall of one of the wings/buildings of the government complex,
next to the City Hall building. Melzan political representatives serving
in the parliament are known as Assembly Members (AMs) and their total
number is 65. The lower age limit for an Assembly Member is 22 years of
age (or its equivalent, depending on the species). Both males and
females are permitted to be AMs, but due to tradition and other factors,
the Assembly has had overwhelmingly male membership for most of its
history (even though female AMs have been steadily present for many
centuries, at least in small numbers).
Council of City Deputies - 50 Assembly Members strong, the City
Deputies form the bulk of the parliament. They are responsible for
holding debates on current issues of city governance, for discussing
bills, and of course, voting for or against bills.
Council of City Elders - 15 Assembly Members strong, The Elders
(or also Aldermen) are the smaller part of the Assembly. They serve as a
supervisory and watchdog committee/council, commenting on and
potentially vetoing bills.
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JUDICIAL POWER
Melza has a series of hierarchical civil courts. The main judicial
institutions and most of the courts are centered in Melza itself or in
the two smaller townships belonging to the Barony. Not all of the seven
villages in the Barony have their own courts, but each gets a
government-appointed judicial advisor that works as an employee for a
village's mayor.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT
Melza's law enforcement
falls under several different agencies, each with its own leader.
However, the undispusted chief of all these institutions is the Lord
Mayor, and in an advisory role, his security ministers.
Melza's law enforcement has decent inventories of equipment, but lacks
heavy weaponry or aircraft and only owns a few small auxilliary boats in
addition to ground vehicles. Much of the police's equipment includes
special tools and less-lethal incapacitating weaponry.
Both the City Watch and the Frontiersmen Corps have their central headquarters in the Watch Wing of The Houses of Rule.
a.) The City Watch
The City Watch conducts most of its activities only in the city proper,
though they will occassionally venture out into the city state's outer,
rural areas and investigate criminal activities over there as well. They
are the biggest and main law enforcement agency of the Melzan polity.
The head figure of the City Watch is the "Chief-o'-the-Watch", also
known colloquially as the Chieftain or simply the Chief. He is
subordinate to the Lord Mayor and all members of the City Watch are in
turn subordinate to him.
Currently, the City Watch operates seven service branches (six of them
"bureaus" and one a special branch). Most of these also have their own,
further specialised investigation departments.
For closer information on the City Watch, please read the dedicated article on the topic.
b.) The Frontiersmen Corps
Melza's gendarmerie, border guard and customs police. They are a
paramilitary police force that focuses on patrolling the small country's
borders and ensures the prevention of illegal trespassing, cross-border
smuggling, investigations in the wilderness, etc.
Outside of foot gendarmes themselves, there are also mounted infantry
gendarmes, and even diver gendarmes (a.k.a. “frogmen”). “The Corps” is
in fact the only law enforcement branch with mounted policemen, as the
City Watch has a strict on-foot-only policy (outside of the occassional
vehicle). Like The Watch, The Corps has its own dog handlers and
falconers.
The Chieftain of the City Watch doesn't have command of the
Frontiersmen Corps, as it is a separate law enforcement organisation to
The Watch. The Frontiersman-in-Chief and commanders of the Corps are
subordinate to the Mayor in the same way as the Chieftain and his
subordinate commanders in the Watch. The only Corps-related thing the
Chieftain can do is turn to the Mayor in order to request Frontiersmen
backup for Watch employees in case of great need and emergencies.
As a professional thief, the only time you really have to worry about
the Frontiersmen is when you're visiting the countryside parts of the
Barony. The gendarmes leave the law enforcement in Melza proper to the
City Watch. You might see them occassionally in the city's streets and
especially at the various stations and ports, but they'll rarely attend
to criminal investigation or crisis situation management in The City
itself.
OTHER SECURITY AGENCIES
Firemen - The oldest fire service in The City were simply people
gathering water from wells into buckets, then creating a bucket line to
put out a fire. Predictably. Over time, along with the gradual
beginnings of more organized law enforcement (that eventually culminated
in the City Watch), there arose a need to create a more professional
body of firefighters. The invention of the mechanical "water-gun",
built either of wood, and later also of brass, helped modernise
firefighting efforts before the founding of the official firemen
institution of The City. Later introductions, in the early days of the
professional firefighting force, included purpose-built horse-drawn fire
wagons, with increasingly advanced water-pumping devices, a
standardisation of uniforms and basic equipment. Some of the latest,
experimental innovations planned for the Melzan fire brigades includes portable air-rebreathing devices, created as a combination of existing diving suit technology and newer industrial devices.
Rescue Service - The rescue service is a fairly new organisation.
It was spun off from the firemen and some of the municipal medical
services only about a decade ago. As its name implies, it tries to offer
salvaging and medical aid to people unlucky enough to sustain injuries
in various accidents. The rescue service operates primarily in Melza and
by extension the two nearby towns, but it occassionally ventures into
deeper countryside as well. Though the financing and material base of
the service have slowly increased over time, it is still largely a
novelty, compared to the likes of established medical services (such as
the city-run hospitals and the various private physician clinics). Don't
expect the rescuers to get everywhere or to get there on time. Even
after implementing swifter and more organised methods of transporting
injured patients - such as civilian counterparts of the army's “flying
ambulance” carriages - the rescue service still is not all that
effective.
Disease Response Unit - One of several newer, more recently
founded medical bodies in service of Melza's municipal government. The
unit consists of educated, trained and experienced “plague doctors”,
their assistents and other small-time auxilliary medical staff. Most of
the unit's activities are conducted on the streets and are aimed at
countering existing disease hotspots, and preventing the potential ones.
Unsurprisingly, while at work, the employees of the unit wear
protective clothing, including protective masks, in an effort to avoid
catching a disease themselves. As recent as the unit's history is, its
parent organisation and the tradition behind it go back several
centuries… Originally, epidemics were handled simply by sending
volunteers to collect and bury the dead. Gradually, the city's
government started to employ more active measures against the spread of
diseases. During a major epidemic in Melza some 80 years ago, the then
government decided to found the Office for Disease Matters, the first
official institution of its kind. Several decades later, the office's
operations were already diversified enough to start employing their own
full-time medical staff. Hence, the “dee-ar-yoo” (or “dear you”, as the
folk nickname goes) was born.
ARMED FORCES
Melza's own armed forces consist of four main branches, and within them,
several smaller organisational divisions. Unlike with law enforcement
agencies, which are controlled by the municipal government, the military
is led by the Lord Baron (symbolic head), the Lord Commander
(commander-in-chief) and their various advisors and underlings. The
bureaucratic headquarters of the Armed Forces are housed in the
Ministries Wing of The Houses of Rule.
Citizenry-at-Arms - The equivalent of an army reserve and
civil defence branch at the same time. Consists mostly of volunteers and
reservists drafted from the city's populace, hence the name. In times
of war, the Citizenry-at-Arms provides combat and support reservists,
while in peacetime, its main function is to help with disaster relief
operations and the like. The Citizenry-at-Arms was created several
centuries ago from the original Melzan town militia. By law, each legal
guild in the city had to raise and train their own defensive troop for
the militia, in order to provide protection for Melza if it became
besieged. The current Citizenry-at-Arms uses a more modern form of troop
management, and the vast majority of City defence responsibilities have
been transferred to the Army.
Baronial and Municipal Army of Melza - The ground forces
of the city state. They include infantry, cavalry, siege and artillery
regiments, as well as enginner and support regiments and the “Railway
Army”. Historically, the Baronial and Municipal Army is an evolution of
the original baronial (royal) army of Melza from several centuries ago,
which gradually developed from a mustered force to a semi-permanent
force, and then into a proper standing army. The Army was originally
tasked primarily with defending the Barony itself, but these historical
developments also saw the gradual takeover of City defence duties by the
Army, unburdening the increasingly outdated town militia. The current
official name for the Army has been in use for some 120 years, and the
official monikers for the River Guard and the Aeroforce also followed
this pattern. The most advanced inventions used by the army are akin to
those of the 1700s or 1800s, but the army itself is 17th century in
almost everything. They're still using mostly muskets, though
sharpshooters have non-cartridge early rifles, and there are still
pikemen and cavalry (both 17th century style). Some rudimentary
repeating rifles have been invented, but are mostly too expensive to
manufacture en masse, so remain rare. Most of the traction and hauling
power of the army is still based around animal-drawn vehicles, but the
use of purpose-built military trains and even early motorised road
vehicles has been slowly on the rise. Primitive steam tractors (similar to Cugnot's wagon or some early road locomotives) are the closest thing the army has to motorised elements, and are used to haul cannons (that look like a barely modernised version of cannons from the Thirty Years War).
Baronial and Municipal River Guard of Melza - The riverine
“navy” of the city state. The Melzan river guard has had a fairly long
and illustrious history, spanning over a millenium (with the occassional
breaks), according to most available written sources. Nowadays, the
River Guard still dependably scours and scouts the shores and bends of
the great Melza river, just as they have for all those centuries. But
times have changed… The sailboats, rowboats, sailships and various forms
of oarships that were once common in the force have been almost
completely retired by now. During the last century, the River Guard saw
the gradual rise of steam-powered boats and ships. These gradually
replaced most of the older types of defence vessels and their latest
generations continue to serve with distinction. Even so, small steamers
in the river guard are still considered a tech novelty. Currently, the
River Guard operates over a dozen patrol boats, several small river gunboats, two ironclad monitors, two fast patrol masted sloops, one steam-powered minelayer/minesweeper ship, and two ironclad steam corvettes
(with added coastal/seaworthy capabilities). There are also various
support boats, launches, barges and tugs. Several years ago, an
experimental submarine was built for evaluation testing. Though this
prototype proved succesful, there are currently no plans of
incorporating it into the RG for active service, making Melza's present
day fleet still surface-only. The fastest shooting artillery piece is
the Rotogun (similar to a real world Puckle gun) and though rare
and expensive, used on some boats. The Rotogun is essentially a small
portable cannon shooting pre-prepared artillery charges mounted on a
revolver-like cylinder. No machine guns, but this is the closest thing.
Baronial and Municipal Aeroforce of Melza - The air force
of the city state. As far as heavier-than-air vehicles are concerned,
the city owns two smaller units of a handful of ornithopters, housed at
a publicly restricted section of the city's main airhaven. All of these
are firmly in government hands, and are used for whatever purpose is
momentarily needed - search and rescue, reconaissance, aerial
observation, air policing, chartered “taxi flights”, sightseeing
flights, etc. Many of the state ornithopters are reasonably up to date
models, though some older types still continue to soldier on as
workhorses of the air wing. In addition, the Aeroforce also operates
several blimps and directly owns The Arcane, one of the city's four aeronavs/aeronefs (The Arcane is effectivelly the VIP aircraft and flagship of the Aeroforce).
(Note: The use of the term “baronial and municipal” for certain
Melzan institutions is somewhat analogous to our world's use of terms
like kaiserliche und königliche ("imperial and royal").
In the Melzan case, it reflects not a shared ruler with two titles, but
two different rulers of the state - one a civilian and one a member of
the traditional aristocracy.)
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(C) 2019 - 2024 P. Molnár
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