Governance

Marrishland is a magocracy, which means that it is ruled by wizards — called magocrats. Non-wizards — commonly known as mundanes — obey their local magocrat. Magocrats serve the dux (or duxess) who rules the duxy within whose borders the community lies. The duxes rule more or less autonomously, but in the event of an emergency that threatens all of Marrishland, they obey the commands of the Mardux — who is also the Dux of Domus. The duxes make up the Council, which is chaired by the Mardux, and the Council meets from time to time to discuss matters of importance to all of Marrishland.

Lieges are expected to respect the rights of those who serve them, as well. The Mardux is obligated to aid any duxy that asks his assistance. A dux may not squander the lives of his magocrats and must be willing to provide them with his resources whenever they clearly need his assistance. A magocrat must protect the mundanes to the best of her abilities, putting the survival of the community and its population even before her own life. Moreover, no ruler should use her title to restrict the freedom of another Mar more than is absolutely necessary to protect the fief as a whole and to obey her liege's commands.

This is the model upon which the Mar base their government. In practice, it is not so simple. Rural communities quite often lack any contact with a magocrat, so they are largely free to govern themselves however they see fit. Those isolated communities that have a magocrat, while more likely to survive the trials of the swamps and fens, have another nest of vipers to worry about. While some wizards take their magocratic obligations very seriously, most are little more than minor despots, quite often ruling mundanes with fear. Mundanes obey wizards but bear no small measure of resentment for their harsh rulers, and only fear that the magocrat will hurt or kill them or else leave them to the predations of the Drakes keeps most communities from rising up in rebellion.

Further, these rural magocrats frequently feel that they owe allegiance to no dux. As a result, they are not obligated to serve, but in the event that they face a threat larger than themselves, there is no one to whom they can turn for help. Sometimes one magocrat isn't enough, and in spite of her courage, the community is decimated as a result of this isolation. More often, though, such a freelance magocrat will flee when she realizes she cannot protect her community from the threat it is facing, leaving her people to die.

In more densely populated areas, magocrats are more likely to serve a dux. While the mundanes in these regions are therefore far less vulnerable to Drake attacks, they face trouble at the hands of other Mar. Magocrats of neighboring communities often squabble over territory, and these squabbles commonly lead to violence between the mundanes of the communities. Magocrats also resort to kidnapping the mundanes of rival magocrats, forcing them to swear fealty to their captor.

Provincial magocrats do not have it easy, either. Duxes, like magocrats, often squabble for territory. Rather than ordering mundanes into battle, however, duxes demand service of their magocrats. While some magocrats have allies who are willing to guard their territory during such an absence, most are forced to leave their mundanes undefended against both Drakes and rival magocrats. It is not unusual for a magocrat to return home to find his lands in the possession of another wizard, and duxes are seldom sympathetic enough to help a magocrat regain his fief.

In all, urban magocrats usually fare best, for while they do not rule any community, they can gain political authority over other wizards. Urban magocrats also tend to occupy essential bureaucratic posts, so it is unusual for them to be pressed into military service except in an emergency — such as if the capital of the duxy is threatened. For this reason, however, while urban magocrats are often among the most intelligent and educated of all wizards, they also have a well-earned reputation for being worthless in battle.

The Mardux, while powerful, sits only lightly on the Chair from which he rules. Once a year, on Weardfest, any eighth-degree wizard may challenge him to magical combat for the title of Mardux. While four or five years might go by with no such coup attempt, once a Mardux's rule is challenged, it usually degenerates into an anarchic free-for-all, with one wizard after another challenging the Mardux for the Chair. Handful of Marduxes in Mar history have emerged victorious from such contests. Those who lose these duels are almost always killed by the winner in order to prevent further resistance from that political rival.

The result of this is that the Mardux seldom even commands magocrats outside of the Duxy of Domus, much less all the other duxes. Quite often, in fact, Marduxes don't even have much control over the wizards beyond the walls of Domus Palus. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the coalition of duxies that make up Marrishland is a very loose one. In fact, duxies almost never cooperate with one another at all, much less all act in unison to accomplish any goal.

(Contributed by Nightfire Tradition)

Copyright 2005-2007 Eric Zawadzki and Matthew Schick. All Rights Reserved.
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