LET'S TALK ABOUT GOVERNMENT
(First off, sorry about not updating this blog in forever! I've been working on In Circuli a ton these past few months, but I just haven't been posting anything on Tumblr. Right now I'm in the process of furiously writing up Act III, so I'll share some of my worldbuilding work from that!)
Some background info: About a third of the story of Act III takes place in a magical world called the Republic, which is where the Alchemist parties around in for about 20 years or so before ollieing off to the City. I worry a lot about the Republic being too much like Renaissance Italy, so naturally I start taking longer showers to figure out a whole government and culture to define the place.
The Republic is a series of large, interconnected cities--each being about the size of Denmark (they're huge, you can see them from space)--that are connected by extensive aquaduct-like roads. These cities span over an area of land about twice the size of Europe, however, because of their proximity and interconnectedness, they're considered one 'nation.' (also for political power, as other nations are similar in size with large territories of at least 75% urbanized land)
The Republic was united a billion (literally a billion) years ago by The Great Unificator, who the people don't know much about because he lived so long ago:
The government he then founded consisted of four groups to maintain balance (hence the four diamonds): The Church, the Lords, the Commons, and the Free. The four Houses each regulate a separate aspect of the populace's lives--while they aren't explicitly totalitarian in their rule, they do have a considerable amount of influence.
THE CHURCH is not literally the Church--they aren't involved in religious affairs in any way, instead, they rule over culture and morality. In a more governmental sense, the Church are the lawmakers that define rights and laws. Culturally, they are diplomats and 'influencers'--what anyone in the Church says is final, and their orders absolutely must be obeyed (which is why the Alchemist initially becomes friends with the Cardinal). The High Inquisitor heads the Church.
THE LORDS are aristocratic families from before the Great Unificator's time. They control most of the rural countryside, and provide the Republic with its army: the Lords protect the roads, enforce the law with police, and finance armies for warfare. Many are involved in trade as well, and some in less-legal forms of such.
THE COMMONS control the lives of the common citizen. Out of the three groups, they are the least corrupt. The Commons is essentially an elected parliament of representatives from each city district--they meet to determine and vote on laws, taxation, trade regulation, social issues that directly affect the general population. Though they are believed to hold the least power among the Houses, the sheer population of supporters (numbering in the billions) still makes them an intimidating force.
THE FREE are in charge of the economy, media, technology, and the arts. They're not actually an official government force--lacking organization and definite leaders--rather, the Free is a collection of artists, inventors, merchants, and investors that had gained so much influence in the Republic that most consider them to be part of the government. Much of the Free are funded by merchants, whose money is then used for technological and cultural developments and monopolies. (the Alchemist is part of this group)
Though each House would like to overtake the other, doing so would create a huge power imbalance leading to an awful recreation of the French Revolution, but with an entire continent and 20 times the population. As a result, each House underhandedly tries to screw around with the other to disrupt their work--often times, they employ the abilities of these organizations:
THE MAFIA (not an official name I just ran out of names) are a group of ruthless gangstas from the Lords noble class. Much like the Italian mafia, they are mostly family-based with a few associate allies. They're middlemen that have monopolized (or are trying to) shipping, and invest tons of money into inventors and artists for new weaponry and media propaganda. As a 'side' operation, the Mafia also provides illegal mercenaries. There's numerous organizations, but the Courtier's family's is the most influential.
THE ILLUMINATI (also not actually the Illuminati, I just wanted to temporarily call them that because 'Illuminati' is such a cool word) are an organization that honestly is trying their very best to make the world a better place--doing so mostly through Enlightenment-style texts and subliminal messaging. Because their ideas are quite radical and revolutionary, they're distrusted by the general public, but are favored by most 'intellectuals.' Most higher-level officials and members of the upper class (but also notable writers, artists, scientists, etc.) are involved in one way or another. Since its influence is so wide-spread, the Illuminati has a separate 'branch' of subterfuge, where they gather and collect secret information.
THE BLACK MARKET is the black market and that's all pretty self-explanatory. These people run monopolies on illegal items, slaves, sexual favors, and prohibited substances (the Alchemist!!), among other things--while they do uphold the connotation of being an 'illegal' organization, the black market isn't necessarily bad: they just provide what stores can't. Those in the black market seldom 'hurt' the people, rather, they end up beating each other up--if anything, they're like the Italian mafia. Its primary purpose is to simply sell and make a (hefty) profit.
SO YES these are the main governing bodies of the Republic!! I will try to make a post about the Alchemist and his buddies next time--and their relation to their respective orders--but here are the foundations of their world! Politics plays a huge role in this section so that's why it's so strongly emphasized hahaaaa
I've transformed into a textbook gomen
"Did you know that our creator is actually a textbook?" "No way! I thought they were salad. Or an anime, at least."
