Governance of the Elitran Empire (Patreon)

Because it can’t be dukes, counts and barons all over the place. First of all, some notes. I’ve stolen the titles after five minutes of research on Wikipedia— I’m not interested in how it really worked in the Ottoman Empire. If this was Phantasm, where everything was magically translated for our hero, I probably would just replicate the duke/count/baron across all the cultures. But Kelsey and co have learned the language the hard way, so using actual titles seems appropriate.

Unlike the Tiatian model, replicated imperfectly in Zamarra, there are no hereditary noble families in Elitra. However, that statement comes with a very large asterisk.

In the Elitran Empire, all governors and officials hold their office by appointment from some higher authority, and that appointment can be withdrawn at any time. In theory, appointments are made entirely on merit. In practice, each court consists of an in-crowd from which all appointments are drawn. Here, corruption is a feature, not a bug.

The Emir, or Emperor (Emperor is a Tiatian term, but Elitra insists on parity so uses both terms interchangeably) appoints the provincial governors, or Wali. They can govern their province as they see fit, but most of them in turn appoint a governor, or Bey, for each city under their control. The Beys in turn appoint most of the minor officials for each city. Each Bey, Wali and of course the Emir, maintains a court from which most of their appointees are drawn.

The families of court members gather around the court and provide a certain amount of stability to the system. If a new Bey comes in, he is supported by the families, and in turn, their position is secure. Needless to say, the families have become very rich and serve as noble houses in all but name.

Each court has its own set of families. Some families are spread across more than one court. The differences between courts is like the difference between Federal and State politics. There is a clear delineation of roles, but individuals can switch between the different levels.

Courts can sometimes be merged. The Emir serves as the provincial governor for the Elitran home province (the Emirate), but he appoints Beys for the cities he oversees. That means that in Elitra itself, the court of the Bey operates as a subsidiary of the Emir’s court. The Bey has his own hangers-on, that may not dare to approach the Emir, and some of the Emir’s court members may be of higher rank than the Bey.

Walis typically either manage one of their cities personally or maintain a court that isn’t in any of the cities, leaving the governing to the Beys. Or they may hold court in a managed city, forcing the Bey to be the secondary power in his own city.

In addition to the governing ranks, there are other official positions that are held. Most of the important ones are granted by the Emir, but depending on their role, they may be found outside of the Emirate. The most common titles are Pasha, Agha, Kadi and Lala.

Pasha is the highest rank, outranking a Wali. Since it isn’t a governing rank, they cannot give orders to a Wali but must be treated with respect. Pasha can be high-ranking military officials, investigators empowered by the Emir to root out corruption, or just particularly favoured members of the Emir’s court.

Of lesser rank is Agha, who typically reports to a Bey or Wali when found out in the provinces. They rank below a Bey, but above any official that can be appointed by a Bey.

Kadi are generally judges. Adjudicating the law is outside of a Bey’s normal duties, but they can override a Kadi’s ruling if they need to. A Kadi can appeal to a superior, normally a Pasha, and depending on the connections of the aggrived parties, a complaint may be taken further.

Lala are the lower levels of court officials, and rank about evenly with a Bey’s own officials, who may be given the rank of Lala as well.