10.3 THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF LUSTERNIA

There are two categories of major political players in Lusternia: city and commune. Cities are bastions of civilisation where the arts of high magic are prevalent. Communes, on the other hand, are closely connected to nature and the forests where low magic holds sway.

Both are ruled, first and foremost, by a ruling council. The council is made up of the Guildmasters of the city or commune and attain a rank beyond what is available to all other citizens or commune members. The names of the ranks are determined by the political system currently in effect. See HELP GOVERNMENT.

While the members of the Ruling Council are the Guildmasters who are elected through their guilds, there is an ultimate leader of a city or commune who is chosen through a general election of the entire population. Because this highest ranking leader must be (in theory) unbiased towards any guild, he or she cannot hold an elected guild office (though the leader can be a member of any guild). See HELP ELECTIONS.

The leader of the ruling council then may appoint people to the heads of seven different ministries. As a system of checks and balances, the appointed minister must be confirmed by a member of the ruling council. Each minister then in turn appoints aides. The ministries are:

Ministry of Education        (responsible for college students and alumni)
Ministry of Power            (responsible for regulating nexus power)
Ministry of the Treasury     (responsible for funding other ministries)
Ministry of the Steward      (responsible for the city coffers)
Ministry of Trade            (responsible for trade with villages)
Ministry of the Chancellor   (responsible for various internal economics)
Ministry of Cultural Affairs (responsible for events and morale)
Ministry of Security         (responsible for city enemies and guards)
Librarian                    (responsible for the city's library)

Further help on the various ministries may be found under section 10.6 (Ministries).

One of the major responsibilities of a city or commune is to keep the energy reserves of their nexus of power high. There are power quests which its members can perform to help replenish the nexus, but one of the major methods is to influence villages and bring them under their sphere of control. The command POLITICS will show the current political breakdown of the land. See also HELP VILLAGE INFLUENCE.