Government
The Gorn Confederation of today has a Constitutional
Monarchy. What this means is that the King of Ghdar
still holds some power but the Confederate Assembly
limits this power. The actual power of the King is based
on his popularity and personal power.
The Gorn
government is actually one of the most complex and yet
simple systems ever devised. The history of it is quite
drawn-out, not in the amount of time but in the amount
of things that happened to create it within a short
period of time. The Government, in its current form has
been in place for about 115 years as of Y175. Rather
than try to cover how it came about, lets look at what
it is.
The Gorn
government begins at a local level. Each Gorn planet is
divided into provinces. Each province has an overlord, a
hold out from the old days of rule under a King. Each
city (clan) within the province sends a representative
to council that the overlord resides over. This
planetary council then decides events for their planet
but tends to try to stay out of provincial matters. In
turn this planet sends representatives to the Gorn
Assembly. The
Assembly attempts to stay out of planetary affairs.
Basically
the Assemblies job is to govern over the resource
abundance that each system provides and distribute it as
needed within Gorn space. The Assembly also handles
dealings with other races and provides control over Gorn
space defense and policing.
The Gorn
do not have a tax system in the normal sense of the
term. Rather each province sends any abundance of
resources to the planetary council. This council
distributes the resources throughout the planet as
needed. Any extra is sent to the Assembly and it then
distributes throughout Gorn space. This simple system
has worked quite effectively and done its job of making
the standard of living for all Gorn nearly equal. The
only taxes the governments apply are tariffs on items
brought to Gorn space by other races. As well on any
Gorn material sold to other races.
As was
mentioned, the Gorn has a Constitutional Monarchy, but
the royal family is not a traditional family. Any Gorn
born with a Blue/Yellow coloration is considered a
member of the royal family. The positions of overlord
and the monarchy are all held by Gorn with this
particular trait. Since the trait does not seem to be
hereditary there is little in the way of a consistent
bloodline for the throne. When a King dies or steps down
the royals all hold a council to vote in a new monarch.
This has actually worked quite well. The royals
understand the limits to the monarchies power and tend
to try to position a new King that will gain power, thus
helping them gain power. Yet at the same time they do
not want one so powerful as to over rule them, nor do
they want a monarch that is not sympathetic toward their
own planetary needs. On the whole this system of checks
and balances looks to work well. This system for
deciding the new king has actually been in use by the
Ghdar for almost 800 years and there has NEVER been a
war to dethrone a king.
The
assembly is made up of two groups. The overlords of the
planets make up the Hall of Worlds.
Each province from the planets send an elected official
to the Assemble to represent them, this is called the
Den of the Folk. Both parts of the government then come
together and elect a Lord of the Assembly to oversee the
government. This has, on occasion been the King, but it
can be anyone, including non-Assembly members. Members
of the Den of the Folk serve 10-year terms, the royals
all serve lifetime terms. The positions of planetary and
provincial overlords are the same as with the King.
.
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