The Galudonian Government

The Galudonian government has seen many iterations over the centuries. Whether it be noble rule or the senatorial government of recent times, the Kingdom has been consistently managed by an elite political force tasked with overseeing its day-to-day operations without executive oversight of the Galudonian Monarch. Nowadays, the Government is split into four distinct separate executives, each with their own powers and authority.

The Monarchy

The Monarch of Galudon, whether it be King, Queen or other, has full executive authority in all matters within the Kingdom. Since the enactment of the Accord of the Freeborn, most of this authority is relatively withheld to allow for the Parliament and/or Senatorial Government to legislate on the Monarch’s behalf. Only note that, in times of dire circumstance, the Monarch will step in to provide oversight and enact rulings where necessary for the sake of the people of Galudon. The Monarch has full legal immunity. This position is currently held by King Frederick Caelock

Outside of the Monarch themselves, the Royal family, namely any Princes or Princesses have little to no authority unless granted such by the Monarch himself. They do however have legal protections, and are treated as an extension of the Monarch under the Kingdom’s various treason laws. Do note however, that unlike the Monarch, the Princes and Princesses are not protected by the disobedience of royal orders law, and can be taken to task on any order given by their person. The Princes and Princesses have full legal immunity, unless otherwise revoked by the Monarch retroactively. These positions are currently held by Prince Ambrose Caelock and Princess Lyra Caelock.

The Royal Court

The Royal Court encompasses the many courtiers and attendants that work for and on behalf of the Galudonian Monarch. The Royal Court has a number of official positions, each possessing their own individual powers and authority separate from that of the Galudonian Ministries, Parliament, Marshalry and Judiciary. They answer directly to the Monarch, and are expected to carry out their roles dutifully and encompass the values of the Monarch by not intentionally bringing harm to the Kingdom or disrupting the concept of Galudonian progress. Additionally, individuals are appointed directly to these positions by the ruling Monarch. There is no set procedure on acquiring these positions, only that the Monarch must bestow the office upon them. They can be applied for by petition to the Monarch via letter, or by appealing to the Monarch via interaction in game such as a royal audience.

Emissary to the Interior

The Emissary to the Interior is the chief advisor to the Galudonian Monarch. They are expected to liaise with the Monarch and advise on all matters in the Kingdom, but are primarily concerned with advising the Monarch in relation to the welfare of the common citizenry and the happenings of the nations various nobles, magnates, the other government branches etc. The Emissary of the Interior is also expected to govern the Monarch’s written communications, and acts as a direct line between all members of the public, regardless of station, and the Monarch. The Emissary of the Interior’s main powers are:

• Are expected to hold a meeting bi-weekly with the Monarch to advise him on the current happenings within the Kingdom.
• Deals with letters and pleas to the Monarch from members of the public. All letters must go through the Emissary to the Interior, who will then choose whether the matter is important enough to pass onto the Monarch.
• Host monthly exhibits on the health of the Kingdom, such as showcasing various flora and fauna exhibits, holding lectures about the current political climate, hold lectures regarding the natural wonders in Galudon and generally hold events specifically aimed at informing the King, the Court and other attendees about what is happening in the world.

Crown Custodian

The Crown Curator is charged with the Monarch’s cultural and historical collection. The Crown Curator provides displays of music, the arts, fashion, entertainments and historical artifact shows on behalf of the Monarch. Moreover, they are charged with the opening and closing of royal balls of the season, announcing the presence of the Royal Family as they arrive, advising the Royal Court on cultural trends, emerging artists and social happenings. The Crown Custodian’s main powers are:

• Holding cultural royal galas showcasing significant works of fashion, history, music, the arts and entertainment.
• Managing the Monarch’s collection of artifacts, tomes, royal library and fashion.
• Utilizing a monthly royal stipend for the purpose of advancing culture and history within the Kingdom of £50,000.
• Setting the seasonal fashion trends and expected habits.
• Funding businesses with significant contribution to the people of the capital using a monthly royal stipend of £50,000.

Royal Plenipotentiary

The Royal Plenipotentiary is responsible for hosting the Monarch’s diplomatic parties. This includes coordinating with the other members of the Royal Court to best entertain the dignitaries as well as provide guidance for Galudon’s elite. They also set the diplomat’s social calendars for the duration of their stay. The Royal Plenipotentiary conveys all necessary information to the Royal Court for the diplomat’s stay, as well as provides feedback on diplomatic visits and any detrimental incidents. Importantly though, the Royal Plenipotentiary has Monarch authority to call upon dignitaries without the Monarch’s direct approval, and can engage in diplomatic arrangements and sign diplomatic agreements on behalf of the Monarch in conjunction and with bi-lateral approval with the Galudonian Minister for Foreign Relations. The Royal Plenipotentiary’s main powers are:

• Can summon a foreign dignitary from a non-hostile state to Galudon for the purpose of a diplomatic visit.
• Sets the dignitaries meeting schedule, including with non-royal family members, and are tasked with ensuring the dignitaries comfort during their stay.
• Hosts a public gathering/gala for the dignitary during their stay for the purpose of allowing the citizens of Galudon to interact with the dignitary.
• Has diplomatic authority to enter into treaties, agreements and contracts with foreign states on behalf of the Monarch, provided there is unilateral approval between the Royal Plenipotentiary and the Minister for Foreign Relations.

Premier of Progress

The Premier of Progress is responsible for heading research and sponsoring the latest in technological advancement. They are granted a Royal Stipend of £50,000 a month to invest into future proprietary technologies and patents that best benefit the needs of the nation. They are responsible for briefing the royal court on all technological movements, of both Galudon and nations abroad, and are expected to research these advancements and investigate foreign technology where possible. The Premier of Progress’ main powers are:

• Using the monthly stipend to direct and invest into new public technologies, or those that benefit the Kingdom in some way.
• Advising the Royal Court and Monarch on the current technological advancements of the world.
• Organizing research ventures into new technologies with additional royal funding (pending discussion with the Monarch.)
• Organizing tech related conferences with relevant engineers for the Monarch to attend.
• Visiting foreign nations’ engineering and technology centers for the purpose of viewing and investigating foreign tech.

Royal Marshal of the Sovereign Army

The Royal Marshal not only advises the Monarch and the Royal Court on the overall health of the Galudonian Marshalry and those of foreign armies, but also commands the Monarch’s own Royal Army in official Galudon wars where necessary. The Royal Marshal also organizes the defense of the Royal Palace, the Monarch’s royal guard and security detail for Royal events. They also are the Monarch’s representative at all meetings of the Galudonian Marshalry, military ceremonies and presentations. The Royal Marshal’s main powers are:

• Leading the Monarch’s royal army during a time of war.
• Organizing and maintaining a Royal Guard.
• Attend Marshalry meetings as the Monarch’s representative.
• Relaying Marshalry information back to the Monarch and Royal Court.
• Provide insight and advise the Monarch on all matters regarding the military.

The Ministries

The Ministries are executive branches of the legislative parliament, wielding a degree of executive authority beyond the typical representative voting procedures. Ministers are expected to carry out their duties diligently and regularly, ensuring Parliament remains informed about the Kingdom's current needs and necessities. They play a crucial role in briefing legislative representatives, providing essential information and context before voting begins on any particular matter. Their responsibilities include presenting detailed reports, proposing actionable solutions, and advising on the potential impacts of legislative decisions, thus bridging the gap between executive action and legislative deliberation. That said, the Ministers do have some executive powers, and those powers will be detailed fully below. Ministers are appointed by majority vote of all sitting representatives, though the Ministers themselves need not be a representative in parliament. They do however need to be part of a representative political party, and may be proposed to a Ministry at any sitting of the Galudonian Parliament.

Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is the de-facto head of the legislative parliament and its representatives. Typically, the Prime Minister is voted in by majority vote, beginning a 3 month term in office before ceding power back to Parliament and allowing the Parliament to vote again on which representative should be Prime Minister. Additionally, the Prime Minister is charged with ensuring that each of the other Ministries are performing their duties adequately. In order to carry out these tasks, the following powers are bestowed upon the Prime Minister:

• The Prime Minister is responsible for setting overarching Ministerial policy and what particular areas of governance need to be focused on by the other Ministries.

The Prime Minister is responsible for calling to order bi-weekly (minimum) Government sittings.

• The Prime Minister can veto one proposal per parliament sitting if at least one 20% of the attending representatives oppose the proposal.
• The Prime Minister can suspend entire Ministerial offices to call for an investigation into impropriety, corruption or stagnancy.
• Has all time access to meetings with the King for Government related affairs, and can bypass the need for approval with the Royal Court’s Emissary of the Interior.
• The Prime Minister is expected to communicate frequently with the public at large about the current state of the Kingdom and the government’s actions affecting them.

Speaker of the House

The speaker of the house isn’t a minister per-se, but rather a conductor who is expected to keep the decorum of parliament throughout its proceedings. The speaker has unilateral authority to quell a member of parliament who is misbehaving or is acting in a way that is unbecoming of the democratic process, and can remove them from proceedings after a warning. The speaker also advises and informs the house of information that may be pertinent to a particular proposal, and orders the proposals for vote accordingly. The speaker initiates proposal votes once the proposal and any amendments have been outlined. This position is currently held by Duke Mattigan Wrayburn. The powers of the speaker are:

• Can call to order the parliamentary proceedings and remove a misbehaving representative after warnings.
• Initiates the voting procedure in parliament.
• Tallies the votes and declares whether they pass or fail.
• Advises the representatives of any information pertinent to an ongoing proposal.

Minister of the Interior

The Minister of the Interior deals with all matters concerning the internal running of the country and the welfare of its people. This involves, but isn’t limited to, ensuring adequate social welfare, education, health services, charity, dealing with an ongoing nationwide crisis, holding cultural fairies, approving and abolishing state regulated guilds and organizations and highlighting any issues pertinent to the public at large at parliamentary sittings. The Minister of the Interior’s powers are as follows:

• Can direct the Galudonian University and Health Care institutions to focus on specific research as part of Education and Health Welfare Government policy.
• Manages a register of all active doctors performing out of the Galudonian hospital, and appointing one of them as a director over the others.
• Sets public health standards for the hospital to operate from during the course of their duties.
• Oversees social programs and welfare schemes by directing Interior Ministry funds to specific areas of the Kingdom deemed needing improvement.
• Safeguards and enriches the Kingdom’s diverse cultures through funding for their continued development. Additionally, the Minister can hold progression-related cultural events in specific provinces and regions, which may temporarily bolster stability in those areas and even attract NPC dignitaries to the region by proxy.
• Is solely responsible for approving and abolishing State regulated guilds and organizations, provided they are deemed to work for the ‘betterment of the Kingdom’.
• Can cordon off entire provinces from outside influence by law where there is an ongoing crisis.
• Can hold cultural festivals in the city highlighting any particular culture for the enrichment of all members of the public.
• Can manage a register of all legalized cursed race afflicted individuals.
• Can manage a register of all illegal contraband.

Minister for Foreign Relations

Contrasting the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for Foreign Relations manages concerns relating to the Kingdom regarding foreign nations. Typically, the Minister for Foreign Relations is expected to liaison with other nations and improve Galudon’s standing with them on behalf of the Government, as well as draft treaties, agreements and organize a roster of diplomats for these purposes. The Minister for Foreign Relations is important as they are the first port of call for all interactions concerning external nations, and thus manages Galudon’s standing with regard to the world at large. The Minister for Foreign Relations’ powers are as follows:

• Hires and appoints diplomats/ambassadors to foreign nations on behalf of the Government.
• Sets Government Foreign Policy toward other nations, and acts as the figurehead of all foreign affairs. Government Foreign Policy should include whether or not a nation should be treated as a friend, neutral or enemy of the state.
• Can dispatch diplomats to foreign nations for the purpose of bettering relations/creating treaties/agreements.
• Can summon friendly nation foreign diplomats and dignitaries to the Kingdom.
• Can summon dignitaries from within the Kingdom (such as NPC Magnates) to the capital.
• Can declare any citizen or nation’s citizens “persona non grata” and unwelcome in the state, which strips that individual of all citizenship rights.

Minister for Warfare Logistics

The Minister for Warfare Logistics deals specifically with the acquisition and delegation of the State’s wartime manpower pool and war machines to the Galudonian Marshalry. Unlike the Lord Warden, who specifically engages with and orders specific movements across war theaters, the Minister for Warfare Logistics does not engage in active combat, and instead encompasses a crucial role ensuring that the Military is both getting only the necessary resources they need to succeed, and not willfully wasting any resources that have already been granted. To accomplish this, the Minister for Warfare Logistics has the following powers:

• Can force conscript a particular magnate/magnates or all magnates manpower up to 50% of their total manpower pool.
• Can designate any number of conscripted manpower to the Galudonian Marshalry.
• Can force conscript a particular magnate/magnates or all magnates naval and air vessels up to 30% of each.
• Can utilize government military resources, such as manpower, naval and air vessels and designate them to the Galudonian Marshalry.
• Can revoke any number of troops, manpower or otherwise, naval and air vessels from the Galudonian Marshalry.
• Can ban certain individuals, a group of individuals or all individuals of a particular nationality, cursed race being or otherwise from serving in the Galudonian Military.

Minister for Finance

The Minister for Finance deals exclusively with the Government’s funds. For this reason they are crucial for the ongoing efficiency of the Galudonian Parliament. All matters regarding finance must be approved by the Minister for Finance solely, and the Finance Minister has an array of powers to assist in accomplishing such. Their powers are:

• Can freely manage the government’s finances and accounts, and can move finances around to whatever accounts at will.
• Can set overarching taxes on individual Magnates, all magnates as a group, civilians and organizations.
• Sets the overarching tariffs on imports and exports.
• Is responsible for levying fines against Magnates in the case of impropriety or stagnation in governance in their areas of influence.
• Can freeze any individual’s account, save for royal coffers, for investigation purposes for a particular crime.
• Can purchase more naval and air ships for the Government with government finances.
• Can designate a stipend of any amount to any particular ministry.
• Can borrow money at an agreed interest rate from other nations.

The Parliament

The Parliament is the main legislative authority in the Kingdom. It supersedes all other executive apparatus’ save for the Monarchy and is responsible primarily with making, changing and revoking laws. The Parliament is awarded a significant amount of authority due to its diverse representatives who are charged with policing one another’s policies and proposals. There is little Parliament cannot do, provided the representatives are able to pass a motion by a 50.01% majority (quorum.) Parliament is also responsible for policing the various ministries, and can remove a Minister from power (the Prime Minister’s veto is considered null in this respect) by a vote of no confidence, requiring a 66% majority of at least 80% of the sitting representatives at that parliamentary session. More details on Parliamentary representatives and membership can be seen below.

Parliamentary Representatives

Parliamentary representatives are individuals who are elected to, and are responsible for, the law making practices of the Kingdom. All Parliamentary representatives are required to be a member of a political party with a published manifesto. There are no rules prejudicing against who can and cannot be a member of parliament. They need only qualify under the regulations set out below under Galudonian Parliament membership. This means that any person of any race, gender, creed or even cursed race can be a member of parliament, provided they meet the aforementioned criteria. Parliamentary Representatives have no specific title, such as Senator for the senators of old. Instead, its customary, but not mandatory, to simply refer to them as ‘Representative’. For example, a parliamentary representative named Spungo Bob would simply be referred to as Representative Bob. It's rare that you would call a representative by their first name during a parliamentary sitting, and such is seen as a mark of disrespect. The only time this is considered permissible is if too-sitting representatives share the same surname, at which point a distinction can be made. New political parties are expected to follow the same procedure as above, so as to alert the DM as to whom will be attending the next parliamentary sitting.

Galudonian Parliament Membership

Political party membership is required to have a representation in parliament. These parties can stand for anything, be it conservative values, centrist values, liberal values, pro-magic values, pro-technology values, or inversely values that go against the previously aforementioned. For example, Duke Mattigan Wrayburn is the chairman of the Galudonian Technological Supremacy Party, which focuses on centrist ideas, is pro-monarchy, seeks a more empowered nobility, is anti-magic and anti-cursed race and is pro-war with Galudon’s declared enemies. Inversely, Prudence Steelspire is a member of The Luminary Coalition, which pursues a pro-liberal agenda permitting members of specific cursed races to exist undocumented, seeks laxer rules on tariffs and trade, is anti-military and focuses on entertainment advancements and business funding. The skies the limit, and the more detailed your manifesto, the more points of reference one has to argue in Parliament.

Representative numbers are then based on active player membership numbers in that particular party. To simplify this idea, take a look below:

For every two active members in a political party, you may have one representative at a sitting. This occurs in increments of two, up to a total of eight. So, if a party has six members, it can have three representatives in parliament. If it has nine, it can have four representatives in parliament. If it has two hundred, it can still only have four representatives in parliament. This is to promote a diverse array of parties with different values, rather than bloating a couple or more.

It is crucial that every party have a manifesto group page listing their values, their aims and generally how they operate. It should also include a member list with character names and their respective player minecraft usernames. Moreover, representatives are expected to be designated clearly on their party manifesto page. Once a party member has been designated as a representative, this is logged on the logistics spreadsheet master document and cannot be changed until that month has elapsed. Representatives, if they cannot make it, are permitted to send another party member in their stead as a replacement, but this should not be a common practice. As stated, representatives can be cycled out for a different party member at the end of each month, but if this occurs, it is expected that this be clearly communicated via both a discord announcement and dm’d to BillyTheScruffy ahead of time. All cycled out representatives must ensure this process has been completed within 24 hours of a scheduled parliamentary sitting.

Galudonian Parliamentary Procedure

The Galudonian parliament has a strict code of conduct attached to it known as Galudonian Parliamentary procedure. All representatives are expected to comply with parliamentary procedure during their tenure as representatives. The procedure is as follows:

• The Speaker of the House will call the Parliament to order at the beginning of each session, after which, any absentee representatives will be noted.
• Any individual acting in place of an absent representative will then make themselves known to the parliamentary floor.
• All parliamentary replacement representatives are required to follow the same rules as regular parliamentary representatives when sitting in parliament.
• Representatives are required to be seated by the call to order. Those late will not be allowed to join the session until the first recess is called, if any.
• No weapons of any kind can be brought into the parliamentary session. Those found bearing weapons in parliament will be found in violation of Galudonian law and be imprisoned and fined.
• Representatives must submit any proposals or bills that they wish to bring to the floor by at minimum, 24 hours before the scheduled sitting. All proposed bills will be logged in the logistics spreadsheet master document 24 hours before the scheduled sitting. Any last minute proposals/bills can be brought up at the end of the sitting, provided the speaker allows them. Note, these last minute proposals/bills must be minor to be permitted.
• All proposals save for votes of no confidence pass with a 50.01% majority.
• Representatives must wait to be recognised by the speaker before addressing the parliament. Outbursts of any kind without being permitted to openly debate by the speaker may result in expulsion from the parliamentary floor.
• Representatives are expected to conduct themselves with behavior fitting of their station. Vulgarity, personal insults or physical threats of/or violence during parliamentary proceedings will result in expulsion from parliament and possible incarceration by members of the Copperguard Enforcers.
• Parliamentary sittings are set to operate at a maximum of 2 hours. Any additional time required is at the discretion of the speaker.
• The speaker can call to close any proposal if it is suspected of being a filibuster. Representatives are expected not to waste Parliament's time.
• Members of the public are permitted to speak at the parliamentary floor, if called upon by a representative or the speaker, however the speaker must permit such.
• Members of the public are expected to act with decorum and behave during parliamentary proceedings and can be ejected from Parliament Hall if they are being disruptive to proceedings.
• Representatives are permitted to call for a vote of no confidence on any Minister. The vote must be carried with a minimum of 66% of at least 80% of all representatives, whether they are there during that sitting or not.