[jason taylor]

This is something of a classic "nested" goverenment.

1. The Head of State is the ceremonial leader of the country and the head of the predominant religion. He is less like a a British monarch and more like a Japanese Emperor

2. The Head of Government is the most powerful noble. He has extensive estates as well as off-planet investments and is able to fund a regular military. He is also given by Constitution a monopoly on certain kinds of military equipment.

3. The Great Council includes representatives from City-States, powerful nobles, nomad tribes, basicallly "anyone important". This includes one or more off-planet trading corporations with local investments.

4. Below the Great Council the Commoners are divided into "Children of the Sword", "Children of the Soil", "Children of the City", "Children of the Saddle" (warriors, farmers, burghers, nomads and ranchers). None of these categories is fixed per se and it is possible to change categories or for a family which to have representation in more than one group.

5. Each member of the Great Council has it's own "turf" which it guards. There is seasonal warfare and the territory shifts regularly according to the results. If one gets to ambitious it will simply get him in trouble. Some disputes are handled by combat by champion. General threats allow the Head of Government a limited amount of collective response

So far this is a fairly conventional arrangement for speculative fiction. More complexities will have to be added.