Politics

The Kingdom of W. Tytania is very much a traditional fuedal system. Though the actual leadership is divided among two councils and the king. The Kingdom is composed of six Duchy which are ruled from its capital Sylvus. While at the capital the Dukes (And Duchesses) appoint a Sheriff to run their Duchy and enforce their rule. This is usually but not always their eldest male heir. Usually a first born son or younger brother.

The Dukes swear fealty to the King, however since the reforms they are much closer to equals than vassals.

Each Duke has about a dozen or two Barons who have sworn fealty to them. Each Baron in turn has a number of Knights sworn to him, The Knights each run a small section of the Baron and usually has a dozen or so families sworn to them. While most of the Knights serve as Heavy Cavalry a number of "Knights" were promoted for other reasons such as knowledge of Magic or Alchemy, and aren't expected to serve as heavy cavalry. Though they are still expected to render other sevices to their Barons, Dukes and King in times of war.

In practice outside of national descisions the Sheriff's are the absolute rulers of their land. They can create and enforce any law they wish so long as it does not conflict with royal eddicts. (Such as the eddict outlawing slavery and mistreatment of halflings) Though they can always be overuled by the Dukes. This is rare however as it is often more important to present an united family than to correct minor oversteps by a Sheriff.

At the national level the King is a limited Monarch. Unlike the Duchy which can pass to female heirs if required the Monarchy is only passed from father to son. However if the King has no sons it may pass to any man who marries his eldest daughter if the council of six agrees (with a simple majority). The King may be replaced if both the council of six and the council of guilds agrees with simple majorities (in practice it would require an 8/10th vote as the councils each have six members). This check was put in place after the last king went mad. If the Council of Six is unable to come to a descision (such as going to war, or supporting the king) and is tied up then the vote goes down to the Council of Guilds. A majority vote in the council of guilds acts as the 7th vote in the Council of Six. And an unanimous vote from the Council of Guilds can override anything except an unanimous vote from the Council of Six.

From time to time (every 6 years) the membership of the Council of Guilds is reviewed by the King. Where he picks and nominates the six most influential guild leaders to repersent the people's interests. These nominations are considered automatically successful unless the Council of Six can put forth a 4/6th (majority) vote against it. At which time a new nomination must be found. This represents the people in government. However this is an imperfect system and it could be abused. There has been much talk of replacing the nominations with a public election for the Council of Guilds. But as of now this is only talk. Though a few chalk this up to "Sayliners trying to corrupt us."

There is currently an independent group of people and town situated inside W. Tytania. They have sworn fealty to no one but for now the King is content to allow them be with out pressing the issue.