12-20-2019, 01:26 AM | #621 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
12-20-2019, 02:12 AM | #622 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Udine, Italy
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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Maybe the oceans are so dangerous that the wooden, small, age-of-sail ships that are the best under the present tech can only be used for coastal shipping. Meanwhile the lucrative ocean-going trade is the preserve of those ancient, big, high-tech ships, and the family who own them are the nobles of this planet. |
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12-20-2019, 09:27 AM | #623 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
Maybe it drives everyone nuts, and nobles are the ones who can still function despite the crazy. Could make for an interesting setting if the ruling families are all mad. Terrifying, yes, but interesting.
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12-20-2019, 09:43 AM | #624 | |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Kingdom of Insignificance
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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Petulant hyperspace navigators, what could go wrong? EDIT: If their livelihood is space based, why are they interested in planetary based resources or industries? Surely they'd be more interested in controlling the hubs of interstellar trade, along with any associated Zero-G related industrial complexes. Their relationship with the populations on the planets which they orbit could be akin to that of the various business interests which inhabited the Bund of pre WWII Shanghai, and the polities and societies which made up Thirties China. Vaguely predatory, possibly.
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It's all very well to be told to act my age, but I've never been this old before... Last edited by Luke Bunyip; 12-20-2019 at 10:13 AM. |
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12-20-2019, 02:54 PM | #625 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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A lot of it's going to boil down to some specifics of FTL and tech, not to mention setting assumptions. A setting where FTL engines are cheap and it's the navigator's unique and inimitable psychic talents that are needed is a lot different from one where ancient and rare FTL engines are keyed to certain bloodlines, and any old aristo can (literally) be plugged into the ship as long they're of the right lineage. |
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12-20-2019, 04:30 PM | #626 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Kingdom of Insignificance
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
Interesting point.
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It's all very well to be told to act my age, but I've never been this old before... |
12-20-2019, 05:07 PM | #627 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Earth, mostly
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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If you break the laws of Man, you go to prison. If you break the laws of God, you go to Hell. If you break the laws of Physics, you go to Sweden and receive a Nobel Prize. |
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04-02-2020, 01:17 PM | #628 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
A vote for a cabinet member is not a traditional "one vote at a time." Instead every member has the vote he had there by default like a light switch which remains on until it is off. Thus everyone can remain in office for a lifetime or be discharged after one day. If they fall behind the lead, the leading opposition member replaces them.
This makes for certain things. It is possible to "signal" by turning off the vote for a day then turning it on. Another wrinkle is that there is always a power behind the throne, because no cabinet member can afford to permanently campaign. They are the ones who lead the biggest bloc. The daily business is conducted by the cabinet and ceremony by the head of state. But the most powerful is the one that can lock the votes. Until he no longer can.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 04-06-2020 at 08:48 PM. |
04-04-2020, 10:44 PM | #629 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
Imagine a hereditary aristocracy, with the inheritance rules being something fairly typical (oldest male offspring, oldest offspring period, choice of the noble which one gets it, etc.), but in a realm organized 'federally'. That is, say the kingdom is made up of, oh, 20 hereditary dukedoms. The monarchy, however, is not hereditary. Instead, whichever Duke is currently in control of the richest, most populous dukedom is also the monarch. This means that the monarchy is sort of hereditary...but that family can lose the crown if somebody else's dukedom surpasses theirs. Also, the powers of the monarch are enumerated and somewhat limited.
To preserve the 'federal' character of the state, the 20 noble families are forbidden to marry each other. That's the first twist. It's set up so that there's no legal way to combine a dukedom or for one family to rule more than one (other than by winning the crown). Each duke is near-absolute in his dukedom, but freedom of movement is mandated. Thus, a duke who is oppressive or incompetent may lose subjects to other dukes, and with it his chances for the crown. The subjects can 'vote with their feet', in other words.
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04-05-2020, 12:47 PM | #630 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems
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Is there a lower level aristocracy to provide consorts? Actually this would combine well with polygamy. Each Duke must be of higher class than any potential consort unless he marries a foreigner. And the most convenient way to get the support of any influential family is to make them all your cousins (that is an old story). Any given duke or duchess (unless they practice Agnatic Succession) could support several spouses.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 04-05-2020 at 12:54 PM. |
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