Ætaine remains the strangest monarchy I have ever watched take shape because its queen had to invent it on the fly. After Mazræl removed the thoroughly unpleasant Uthrek IV and styled herself “People’s Regent,” it took her two full years to hammer the present system into place: a crown that is strong, but leashed to a Grand Council of Three Orders. Every ten years, that Council: Lords, Temples, and Wards; elects an “Elected Queen” (or King) from among qualified citizens. In theory, any free Ætaini of sufficient age and standing may be chosen; in practice, only those who can convince at least two of the three Orders they are not a disaster stand a chance.
The Orders themselves are carefully weighted. The Order of Lords represents the nobility, but with fewer seats than either the temples or the people’s Wards; Mazræl saw to it that they could no longer simply impose their will due to birthright. The Order of Temples speaks for the recognized temples; their influence tied to the size and charity of their priests and their flocks. The Order of Wards is the loudest of the three: one councillor elected from each city district by local assemblies of residents and guilds. Laws must pass at least two Orders and then the full Council before the Crown signs them, and the monarch’s emergency edicts expire if the Council does not ratify them within a set span. In short, the Queen “rules,” but not alone.
It is an untidy arrangement, resented by old noble houses who remember when one strong-willed noble or king could execute a man on a whim, yet the city has prospered under it. Temples gain voice but must prove their worth in loaves, beds, and healings, not just incense; the Wards can recall their own representatives if they grow corrupt or complacent. Mazræl still holds real power (over the purse, the watch, and the courts) but she does so under the constant, watchful irritation of lords, priests, and commoners alike. For a city this large and this important, it may be the closest anyone has come to making monarchy and accountability share the same space without killing each other outright.
Though I must note, that Mazræl is given wide leeway in her actions by the commoners and the temples. All due to her popularity regarding her direct actions in curbing the “excesses” of the nobility who once had a monopoly on the city’s power. I would dare say she has overstepped her legal authority on several occasions, but was pardoned for her “extra-legal” actions by those of her supporters. It is interesting that in each election she participates, regardless of her wood-aelv blood and appearance, she gains new supporters, mostly from those noble houses that see that it is better to help her achieve her dreams of a prosperous Ætaine for all than try to bring back the “glory” days of the past.
— from the research notes of Zyr’Magi Tes’Lothen, “Magi the Blade”, high-aelv scholar, mage, and swordsman
